Electric Scooters - Banned from the Streets of Paris

The lack of a regulatory framework in the field of electromobility seems to be making itself heard. Self-service electric scooters have become a thing of the past in the capital of France as of Friday, even though they had become a common sight in the Parisian landscape. This measure was adopted following a vote organized by the municipal council in April of last year, as reported by the French press, according to news.ro.

A referendum invited Parisian residents registered on the electoral lists to vote "for or against self-service electric scooters." The result was that out of the 103,084 voters who participated in the vote (7% of the electorate), 89.03% voted against. The three operators providing such services in Paris - Dott, Lime, and Tier Mobility - had until Thursday, August 31st, at midnight, to remove the approximately 15,000 electric scooters from the city.

Anne Hidalgo, the Mayor of Paris, decided to ask the Parisians about the future of electric scooters, citing fatal accidents, abusive use, and safety issues for pedestrians. According to her team, many scooters ended up being thrown into the Seine River, becoming a major source of pollution, as a single battery could contaminate millions of liters of water.

This measure is not unprecedented in France. In Villeurbanne (Rhône department), the use of self-service electric scooters was banned in November 2019. Similarly, in Nice (Alpes-Maritimes department), the municipality renewed two regulations in June that prohibited these vehicles in certain areas in the city center.

In other countries as well, these electric scooters have caused problems for local authorities. Barcelona (Spain) decided to ban them as early as 2018 to limit accidents and uncivilized behavior.

When Lime, the company, made its self-service electric scooters available in Paris in the late spring of 2018, this new mode of transportation became a sensation among young people aged 18 to 34, as reported by the source. In just a few months, 10% of Parisians claimed to be customers of this service, according to a survey. Additionally, officials realized that this could reduce pollution, so they promoted this service. Soon, there were 12 operators offering electric scooters, and there were approximately 40,000 such vehicles in Paris.

However, with the chaotic invasion of these vehicles and the absence of a proper regulatory framework, Parisians quickly discovered the inconveniences they brought with them: sidewalks were overrun by speeding scooters without regard for pedestrian safety, users were riding without helmets and causing or experiencing serious accidents, scooters had a short lifespan, which was an ecological aberration, and there were socially questionable practices where independent entrepreneurs called "juicers" charged scooters with fuel generated from wood without adhering to safety rules.

In this context, the Paris municipality introduced a series of initiatives, including a minimum fee of 45 euros for each vehicle, to be paid by the operator, and a fine of 135 euros for riding on sidewalks. In June 2020, Paris selected only three operators (Lime, Dott, and Tier) following an auction. Each of them could deploy a maximum of 5,000 scooters for two years.

Despite these measures, Parisians did not see many improvements. Visually, the streets of Paris still had just as many two-wheeler users running red lights, overturned scooters or scooters parked outside designated areas were still seen on sidewalks, and, most importantly, accidents continued, if not increased.

Finally, the city resorted to a referendum, and the result is being implemented as of Friday, September 1, 2023. According to the French road safety authority, there were 35 deaths in France in 2022 among users of personal mobility devices (PMDs), primarily scooters, compared to 10 in 2019.