Parisians to vote on e-scooter ban in closely watched referendum

Other cities on the fence about e-scooters will probably follow the French capital’s lead, sustainable mobility advocate tells The National

Paris was one of the first to adopt scooters that are rented via an app.

Parisians are set to vote on Sunday on whether they support a ban on electric scooters for rent in a referendum that will likely influence other major French cities’ approach to the motorised vehicles.

E-scooters have split opinion: many believe they are a menace on the roads and lead to injuries, while others say they are a harmless and relatively cheap mode of transport.

“Other cities on the fence about implementing e-scooters will probably follow Paris’s lead,” said Stephanie Hagen, head of content at Vulog, a provider of shared mobility solutions.

The French capital was the first city in the world to introduce a shared bicycling system called Velib in 2007 and is considered to be a “test bed” for new mobility solutions, according to Ms Hagen.

Shared free-floating e-scooters in Paris are operated by three companies and currently number 15,000. They were introduced six years ago.

But they are unpopular with Paris officials, who have struggled to regulate them and view scooters as dangerous.

“Personally, I think we need to stop this,” said Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo in January when she announced the vote.

Transport Minister Clement Beaune said this week that one in five accidents in Paris involved two people sharing an e-scooter meant for one person only.

Ms Hagen expects Parisians to vote for a ban on Sunday.

“Paris City Hall has done everything in its power to discourage younger people from voting,” she told The National.

She fears a low turnout as registration to vote closed on March 3 and there are fewer polling stations open than during other votes, while proxy votes are not allowed.

The vote also excludes tourists and commuters who often use e-scooters to get around the capital, said Ms Hagen.

Voters will have to answer “yes” or “no” to the question, “for or against free-floating e-scooters in Paris?”

Results will be announced on Sunday evening.

The vote will come just days after the French government unveiled on Wednesday a new regulatory plan for e-scooters that includes individually owned vehicles.

The new rules raise the age limit from 12 to 14 years and fine people who share an e-scooter €135 ($146) instead of €35 ($38).

E-scooter supporters say that the city of Paris, which aims to push individual cars out of its centre, should be encouraging the use of e-scooters as a popular alternative and introduce new regulation instead of banning them.

Ms Hagen said that opposition to e-scooters is linked to absence of a proper storage infrastructure. “They clutter space as they are not tethered to a station, unlike shared bicycles.”

Creating obvious parking zones would help, she said.

Bloomberg reported this week that Lime, one of the three companies operating e-scooters in Paris, plans to install technology that would lock scooters when it detected more than one person aboard. It is also testing a video system that would help police issue fines to riders.