Skip to main content

Parisians vote an overwhelming 'non' to e-scooters

Referendum saw 90% wanting free-floating 'trottinettes' banned after 1 September in city
By Adam Hill April 3, 2023 Read time: 2 mins
Paris: the trottinettes are on the way out (© Olrat | Dreamstime.com)

Parisians have voted to ban free-floating rental electric scooters, introduced in 2018, in France's capital.

Around 103,000 people took part in the referendum yesterday - less than 8% of those eligible to vote - with an overwhelming 90% voting in favour of the ban.

City mayor Anne Hidalgo thanked voters, saying: "It's a great victory for local democracy."

She added: "Parisians have spoken out massively against self-service scooters" and Hidalgo pledged to "put an end" to their deployment in the city by 1 September this year.

Lime, Dott and Tier currently operate around 15,000 trottinettes en libre-service in the City of Light and the companies were among five micromobility firms which released 10 recommendations last month for integrating scooters into cities.

Lime had also cited a report on micromobility in Paris before the vote which "shows how much the city may lose".

But the spotlight has fallen on some users' erratic driving of e-scooters, causing several deaths by hitting pedestrians and resulting in many more injuries in collisions.

In addition to safety concerns, there has also been negative feedback over the issue of street clutter, with scooters abandoned on sidewalks.

In a statement, Tier said it was "very disappointed" with the vote, which "goes against the global trend which sees countries and cities around the world embracing low carbon micromobility". 

"Moving away from shared e-scooters also means that Paris is isolating itself from the rest of the world with major capitals like Washington, Madrid, Rome, London, Berlin or Vienna that are all implementing policies supporting e-scooters as ways to reduce unnecessary car usage," the statement continued. 

Tier said it remains available "to work jointly with authorities towards achieving the adoption of a regulatory framework that fosters the uptake of micromobility". 

Scott Shepard of Drover AI tweeted that the issue could have been resolved by "better coordination...smarter regulations... and technologies that improve riding & parking".

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • MaaS Global 'reorganises' for 'new route'
    October 12, 2022
    Mobility as a Service specialist lays off staff and seeks new partners as it reviews operations
  • ITS America 2021: best of both worlds
    April 29, 2021
    ITS America’s rearranged Annual Meeting will take place in Charlotte, North Carolina, in early December. It is going to be Covid-safe and full of great content – both in-person and online
  • Smoothing out city freight movements
    May 28, 2014
    David Crawford welcomes a national first. Urban freight movements, while commercially and socially vital, are a growing logistical headache for planners and people alike. Figures from France’s Lyon Laboratory of Transport Economics indicate that goods transport in major urban areas accounts for: 20% of traffic; 35% of CO2 emissions made by all urban trips; and 50% of the diesel used; while final km delivery runs account for 20% of the total cost of the transport chain.
  • Electric buses: more billion dollar orders
    August 3, 2015
    China will spend up to one trillion dollars on electric buses over the coming 15 years according to analysts IDTechEx. This will reduce the impact of over 22.5 trillion dollars from air pollution over that time, at least one percent of GDP. More insurrection will occur if corrective action is insufficient because hundreds of thousands are dying from traffic pollution and far more are suffering resultant serious disease. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), outdoor air pollution caused 3.7 m