E-scooters will be banned in Paris following the results of an official poll that took place on Sunday.
Almost 90% of respondents wanted to remove the e-scooters – although only about 7% of Parisians on the electoral roll cast a vote.
The agreement with the city’s e-scooter operators will end and the ban will come into effect from the start of September.
The Paris vote on e-scooters
Paris introduced the e-scooters in 2018 as a clean and efficient mode of transport. They’re now a common mode of transport in several large cities across the world.
However, safety concerns about the e-scooters later emerged. Subsequent laws were passed to require users to wear high-visibility clothing and helmets. Calls for a ban in Paris intensified in 2021 when a woman died after she was knocked down by an e-scooter.
Are there e-scooters in Australia?
E-scooters have been trialled in several Australian cities, including Melbourne, Canberra, and Brisbane.
The Victorian Government announced a six-month extension of their public-use e-scooter trial last week. They will now also be trialling privately-owned e-scooters during this period.
E-scooter industry pushback
Providers such as Lime and Dott encouraged Parisians to vote against the ban.
They cited research that e-scooters were either safe or becoming safer.
The providers also argued that e-scooters were a sustainable and affordable transport option in Paris, claiming they are particularly popular among young people and students.
