In mid-January, in an article in Le Parisien, Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo announced her intention to organize a consultation on the future of self-service electric scooters in the capital. While her wish was to put an end to their presence, she recognized that "the subject is very divisive" and preferred to consult her constituents on the issue, indicating that shewould "respect the vote of Parisians".On Sunday April 2, 2023, Parisians on the electoral roll were able to vote, and voted overwhelmingly in favor of their ban, at 89%, despite a huge abstention (92%).
Of course, there's no question of putting an end to all scooters in Paris, just the"free floating" ones, which can be borrowed by anyone. The Mayor of Paris felt that"it's not environmentally friendly" and that "the employees of these companies are not properly protected". In 2022, 400,000 unique users per month made use of the 15,000 self-service scooters in the capital, practical for avoiding public transport, but often deemed "too dangerous" and"not sufficiently supervised" by Parisians.
The contracts with the three operators (Dott, Lime and TIER) present in Paris will therefore not be renewed. Renewed until this summer in March, pending the outcome of the citizens' vote, they enabled Parisians to use scooters for a few more months, but that's all over. They will disappear on August 31, 2023, making Paris the only European capital to ban self-service scooters.
