Paris just voted to ban e-scooters
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The mayor of Paris said on Monday that electric scooters would be banned beginning September 1 after the public voted to remove them from the streets.
According to the city hall Twitter account, the e-scooter ban received 89 percent of the votes in what was termed as an unusual "public consultation" that sparked huge lines at voting boxes throughout the city. Unfortunately, only 7.46 percent of registered voters participated in the referendum.
Mayor Anne Hidalgo stated that she would respect the outcome of the election.
"From September 1, there will be no more electric scooters for rent in Paris," she told a news conference late on Sunday.
But, e-scooter operators indicated on Monday that they wanted to block the proposal.
"We remain hopeful that we can continue to work with Mayor Hidalgo to adopt sensible regulations instead of a ban on e-scooters, and avoid a step backward for Paris," a spokesperson for Lime said on Monday.
According to a Dott representative, the referendum was "heavily impacted by very restrictive voting methods," resulting in an exceedingly low turnout heavily skewed towards older age groups.
Clement Beaune, France's Transport Minister and a probable candidate for mayor in 2026, called the vote "a massive democratic flop" on BFM television.
Electric scooters have operated in Paris since 2018, but after complaints about their anarchic deployment, Paris reduced the number of operators to three in 2020.
It handed them a three-year contract, demanded that scooter speeds be limited to 20 km/h, and enforced designated scooter parking spaces, which are identical to limitations in other cities across the world. The present contracts will expire in September.
Operators had proposed additional restrictions, such as requiring users to be over the age of 18, fastening license plates so police could identify traffic offenders, and limiting users to one passenger.
In France in 2021, 24 individuals died in scooter-related incidents, including one in Paris. Last year, Paris had 459 accidents using e-scooters and similar vehicles, three of which were deadly.
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