Paris has voted to ban shared electric scooters, becoming the first city in the world to adopt such a decision, writes Politico.
The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, said: «Parisians have massively expressed themselves against keeping shared e-scooters. They have given us a very clear roadmap, and we are going to abide by their decision.»
The landmark referendum, in which 89% of voters were against shared electric scooters on the streets of Paris, also stood out with a record-low number of participants – only 8% of the voting population of Paris participated in it.
Hidalgo informed that electric scooters will disappear from the streets on the 1st of September.
On this day, the contract expires for three companies, each of which is allowed to place five thousand electric scooters in Paris – Dott, Tier and Lime. Shared electric scooters first appeared in the French capital in 2018. However, scooters soon became a concern.
Despite the low turnout, Hidalgo sees the results as a victory for local democracy. Clément Beaune, the French transport minister, does not agree with this, calling the referendum a democratic failure, as shown by the humiliatingly low turnout.
Three electric scooter operators had asked before the vote to also allow electronic voting to encourage their target audience of 18- to 24-year-old Parisians to participate. The claim was rejected.