Parisians vote to ban electric scooter rentals

Paris residents have approved the ban on rental electric scooters within the French capital.

Nearly 90% of voters who participated in Sunday's referendum, organized by the Paris mayor’s office, supported the scooter ban.

Voter turnout was low, with only 7.46% of registered voters casting their ballots at 203 polling stations across the city.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo declared, "On September 1, rental scooters will be banned in Paris. This is a victory for local democracy," during a press conference over the weekend.

The ban will take effect at the end of August, when the contracts of the city's scooter operators expire. Private e-scooter owners will not be impacted.

Scooter operators reacted quickly to the outcome of the referendum.

"The real impact is on our 400,000 monthly users and the 800 Dott employees in Paris. It will also affect residents, as removing the scooters means more congestion on public transport and an increase in individual vehicles," said Nicolas Gorse, Chief Business Officer of Dott, during an interview with RMC radio on Monday morning.

In recent years, Paris has implemented various initiatives to reduce reliance on private cars and encourage alternative modes of transport. These include bike lanes, subsidized e-bike rentals, enhanced public transport, and electric scooter rentals.

From mid-2012 to mid-2022, the most recent year for which data is available, traffic on Paris' roads dropped by 33%, according to the city hall.

However, a report from the French Academy of Medicine last November labeled e-scooters as a “growing public health issue,” noting that “accidents involving electric scooters result in a significant number of serious injuries.”

Paris police do not track injuries or fatalities specifically from e-scooters. However, between 2021 and 2022, accidents involving “motorized personal transport devices” – including e-scooters, gyropods, and motorized skateboards – increased by almost 30%, with 516 incidents reported and three fatalities, according to police.

Paris is not the only European city facing challenges with e-scooters. Barcelona, an early adopter, has partially banned them in historic areas of the city since 2016.

In London, while privately owned e-scooters are still prohibited on public roads, public trials have been underway with three operators since mid-2021.