Paris votes to ban rental electric scooters from city streets

In a big blow to the electric mobility market, the city has voted to ban rental e-scooters from the streets.

An overwhelming around 90 per cent of votes cast supported a ban, official results showed.

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Paris was a pioneer when it introduced e-scooters in 2018, reports the Guardian.

In a referendum organised by Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo on Sunday, residents voted 89 per cent against keeping shared e-scooters in the city.

A voter casts a ballot on free-floating electric scooters at the city hall in Paris on Sunday. AFP

Paris has almost 15,000 e-scooters across its streets, operated by companies including Lime, Dott and Tier.

The three companies will now have to pull their fleets out of the city by September 1.

Hidalgo, who originally welcomed shared e-scooters to Paris, has pushed for the capital to become a more livable 15-minute city, reports TechCrunch.

Hidalgo said that scooters are the cause of a lot of accidents and that the business model was too expensive to be sustainable, with a 10 minute ride costing about 5 euros.

Voters register to vote during a municipal public “citizen vote” voting session in Paris on Sunday. AFP

According to reports, a 31-year-old Italian woman was killed in June 2021 after being hit by an e-scooter with two passengers onboard while walking along the Seine.

Dott, Lime and Tier said in a joint statement that the low voter turnout affected the results of the referendum.

Only 103,084 people turned out to vote, which is about 7.5 per cent of registered Paris voters.

The ban will not have an effect on the e-bikes offered by shared micro-mobility companies, which will remain in the city.

Indo-Asian News Service