Paris will ban rental e-scooters from the French capital in September after a vote that attracted just 4 percent of the city’s population, dealing a blow to operators in one of their largest markets.
The city council said 89 percent of the people who voted in the referendum supported the ban. It added that it would not issue new tenders or renew licenses for the 15,000 e-scooters in use, which are operated by German Tier, Uber-backed Lime and Franco-Dutch group Dott.
ban “trotsIt would worry operators hoping to beat other cities, especially since Paris is a closely watched center for the way urban regulations have been adopted. It could also make investors more reluctant to support these capital-hungry start-ups at a time when money-losing tech ventures are falling out of favour. .
Operators such as Lime have admitted that Paris has been a “laboratory for micro-mobility”, and until recently the city was their biggest market. It still ranks among the top five countries globally and the number of e-scooter rentals has reached 400,000 registered users. Scooters are especially popular with young people and tourists.
But the devices upset locals after their disorderly introduction in 2018. At one point, 35,000 e-scooters from 12 operators often littered the streets and blocked entrances.
The rules have since been tightened and licensing has been introduced, but some Parisians still view e-scooters as dangerous, despite the 20km/h speed limit.
Dott CEO Henri Moissinac said Monday it was “too early to tell” whether the ban threatens the viability of some scooter operators, but acknowledged the “emotional impact”. [is] Some investors certainly won’t warm up.”
The poll was criticized by e-scooter companies for being overly restrictive, with only 100,000 people voting. Limitations included an early cut-off of registration, limited polling stations, and no electronic or postal voting.
“Obviously the way the vote was played out is going to be negative,” Moissenac said.
“Paris has for a long time been setting trends in all things [to do with] micromobility,” he added. “But that has changed, and this weekend is a perfect example of that. . . Every capital city in Europe is ramping up these services; Paris is the only one holding back.”
Anne Hidalgo, the socialist mayor of Paris, said Sunday that “more than 100,000 voters are very positive and encouraging” and that the city council will conduct similar polls on other issues.
Its mayor and transportation chief David Billiard, a green politician, said battery-powered e-scooters are not environmentally friendly because they have a short lifespan.
Hidalgo, who runs the city in coalition with the Greens, plans to phase out older diesel cars altogether while restricting car use in some central parts of Paris next year.
Some 800 jobs are at risk because of the e-scooter ban, and the operators, who still hold licenses in other French cities and also have bicycle services, said they would try to offer employees options elsewhere.
“Most of the demand we see in motorcycles is going to go to e-bikes,” Moissenac said. “They are less controversial.”
