Residents in the French capital, Paris, have voted overwhelmingly in favour of a ban on shared electric scooters in the city. Asked by the local authorities to express their opinion, as many as 89% of voters were in favour of the ban, which should now come into effect on 1 September.
Around 15,000 electric scooters – owned by three companies – are currently being rented out in Paris and are regularly used by the city's roughly half a million inhabitants. The permits of these companies, however, expire at the end of August.
As these scooters are often handled carelessly by those who use them, they frequently cause chaos (and even accidents) in the city. In 2021, the Paris city council already limited the permitted speed to 10 km/h in 100 busy zones.
Still, many residents of Paris do not think this is enough: 89% of voters in a citizen survey want a ban on the scooters. The turnout of that survey, however, was very low: only 7.45% of eligible voters showed up.
Related News
- 'Explosive growth': E-scooters in Brussels both practical and problematic
- Brussels to install 3,000 scooter parking spaces
- Experts label electric scooters a 'major health risk'
While the results of the survey are technically non-binding, a spokesperson for the Paris city council told local media that they still consider them to be, regardless of turnout. "I am committed to respecting the choice of voters, purely and simply," Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo told reporters.
In Belgium, too, calls to ban sharing scooters are rising due to the number of accidents – often with serious injuries – and the nuisance on cities' sidewalks. In Brussels, where they are already well established, some 800 people were injured in 2022.
Other European cities have also abolished or restricted scooters in recent years: they are banned in Barcelona, and the number of scooters allowed in Lisbon has been reduced by half while their allowed speed has been limited to 20 km/h – just like in Stockholm and Oslo.
