Paris Votes to Ban E-Scooter Rentals

Paris held a citywide referendum Sunday on whether or not to ban e-scooter rentals in the city. While only about 8% of eligible voters turned out, nearly 90% of respondents voted for a ban.

For some, e-scooters can provide a green mode of transportation for short distances. But these scooters have also posed several issues. They can be unsafe, with rising cases of crashes and 24 e-scooter-related deaths in 2021, as Reuters reported. The deputy of transport in Paris, David Belliard, noted that there also have been hundreds of additional non-fatal accidents involving rental e-scooters.

The scooters create “a feeling of overall insecurity in the public space, notably for the most vulnerable people, I’m thinking of seniors or people with disabilities,” Belliard told The Associated Press. “There are a few benefits but what I see today is that the costs are greater.”

Anne Hidalgo, mayor of Paris, announced the referendum in January and expressed her own interest in banning e-scooters. 

“It’s very expensive — five euros (£4.40; $5.40) for 10 minutes — it’s not very sustainable, and above all, it’s the cause of a lot of accidents,” Hidalgo said of the e-scooter business.

The ban will apply only to rental e-scooters, not privately owned scooters.

Paris was one of the first cities to adopt e-scooters, BBC reported, but untrained riders and tourists unfamiliar with local traffic laws who drive fast and dangerously through streets and sidewalks posed threats to the safety of both the riders and pedestrians.

Another criticism of e-scooters in Paris and beyond is that riders don’t park them properly, leaving them blocking sidewalks and other pathways. While the city instated a ban and fines on parking scooters on pavements, many riders still continued to improperly return the rental scooters after riding them.

Some riders also litter with e-scooters. Euronews reported that Swans’ Island in Paris has been nicknamed Scooters’ Island by residents after finding scooters thrown into waterways.

“We’ve pulled out at least 170 over three years or so,” local magnet fisher Raphaël told Euronews. “I don’t know what they want to do with them, but I don’t see the point of throwing them in the water.”

One study found that e-scooters, while responsible for less emissions than cars, produce more emissions per passenger mile than other modes of transit, including diesel buses (with a high number of passengers), bikes or e-bikes or traveling on foot.

However, critics argued that the rental e-scooters can provide more accessible, sustainable transit options for people who don’t live close to a metro stop. Garance Lefèvre, director of public policy for e-scooter company Lime, also told The Associated Press that the e-scooters can provide a safer transportation option for people traveling late at night.

Three rental e-scooter companies — Lime, Dott and Tier — have licenses to operate in the city, but these licenses are due to expire in August. The e-scooters will be banned beginning September 1. The e-scooter rental companies expressed hope in working with the city to set stricter regulations on the vehicles, rather than moving forward with the outright ban.