Paris Bans Rented e-scooters

Paris Votes to Ban Rented e-scooters

Parisians have voted to prohibit rental electric scooters in their city, marking a setback for scooter operators and a victory for road safety advocates. Official results revealed that nearly 90% of votes cast on Sunday favored banning the battery-powered devices.

However, voter turnout was low, with fewer than 8% of eligible voters participating in the referendum. Of the 1.38 million people on the city’s electoral register, just over 103,000 took part, and over 91,300 voted against the scooters.

Paris was one of the early adopters of electric scooters, but concerns were growing about their impact on safety. Critics argued that some riders were behaving recklessly, weaving through traffic, dodging pedestrians on sidewalks, and reaching speeds of up to 17mph (27km/h). Many riders did not wear helmets, and children as young as 12 could legally rent e-scooters. Additionally, parked e-scooters were cluttering the city’s sidewalks.

In 2021, a 31-year-old Italian woman was killed after being hit by an e-scooter carrying two people, resulting in a cardiac arrest after she fell and hit her head on the pavement.

Operators of e-scooters countered that the vehicles represented only a small portion of overall traffic accidents in the city.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo initiated the referendum, allowing voters to express their support or opposition to free-floating e-scooters, excluding privately-owned vehicles. Hidalgo, a pro-cycling Socialist leader, backed the ban, emphasizing the high cost of using e-scooters and their contribution to accidents.

The three main e-scooter operators, Lime, Dott, and Tier, sought to encourage their primarily young customers to vote in their favor through social media campaigns and offering free rides on the voting day.

New laws introduced in 2019, including requirements to wear high-visibility clothing and not ride against traffic flow, imposed fines of €135 (£116; $146), with penalties of up to €1,500 for exceeding the speed limit.

Dumped e-scooters had also become a significant problem in Paris, often found in the city’s parks and squares, despite a ban on parking them on pavements and the threat of a €35 fine.