Paris votes on ban for rental e-scooters

PARIS – Residents of Paris voted Sunday on whether to banish for-hire electric scooters from the streets of the French capital, which was a pioneer in adopting the divisive new form of urban transport.

City authorities once welcomed operators of app-based rental scooters with open arms, seeing them as an emissions-free alternative to cars and motorbikes.

But after a chaotic introduction in 2018, city hall has progressively tightened regulations, creating designated parking zones, limiting the top speed and restricting the number of operators.

Their presence remains controversial, with pedestrians complaining about reckless driving while a spate of fatal accidents has highlighted the dangers of vehicles that can currently be hired by children as young as 12.

“They’re dangerous, both for those who use them and for pedestrians,” Dr Francoise Granier, a 68-year-old doctor who voted in the 9th district of the capital, told AFP on Sunday. “And the police never intervene.”

Like her, IT worker Michael Dahan, 50, deplored the state of the capital’s streets, saying: “If it was better regulated, I wouldn’t be against… but you see people behaving in a crazy way.”

Such views are expected to dominate in the 21 voting booths set up around the French capital, with the exercise billed as a “public consultation” rather than a referendum by mayor Anne Hidalgo.

The pro-cycling Socialist leader favours a ban and announced the vote in January to settle the issue of whether they should be allowed.

“I’m committed to respecting the choice of voters, purely and simply,” Ms Hidalgo told reporters as she voted.

“It’s very expensive – five euros for 10 minutes – it’s not very sustainable, and above all, it’s the cause of a lot of accidents,” she added.

The consultation will not affect privately owned electric scooters, of which 700,000 were sold nationwide last year, according to transport ministry figures.

Around 100,000 journeys are completed each day in France on rented e-scooters in around 200 towns and cities.

Transport Minister Clement Beaune expects the poll to result in a ban, while some operators also privately fear a negative result unless their mostly young users turn out to vote.

“It’s an important consultation that will be watched by a lot of other towns in France and overseas,” Mr Beaune told Europe 1 radio on Wednesday.

He argues that e-scooters are a valuable new transport solution that have replaced up to one in five journeys in Paris that would have previously involved an emissions-producing vehicle.