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E-scooters threatened with ban in Paris
Source: pixabay/Rabenspiegel
E-scooters threatened with ban in Paris
Paris is considered the world's most important city for micromobility. Around 400,000 people use the e-scooters in Paris every month, and 1.7 million rides were reportedly made in October alone.
However, beside the high demand, there are also some points of criticism.
For example, the e-scooters are thrown into the Seine and must be retrieved from there by divers, or they are parked on the sidewalks and block them. This is a particular problem for people with walking and visual impairments. To counteract this, the city of Paris decided 3 years ago to impose a fine for e-scooters parked illegally on the sidewalk, but this only had a short-lived effect. In addition, the environmental balance is also criticized, because according to a Paris study, an e-scooter emits six times more CO₂ per kilometer of travel than a subway. Furthermore, the number of accidents involving e-scooters increased by 50 percent from 2021 to 2022.
In February 2023, the licenses of the three e-scooter rental companies, Dott, Lime and Tier, will expire in Paris. Due to the criticisms, the city hall in Paris is currently discussing whether to extend them.
Since it is expected that many cities will follow the Paris decision, e-scooter rental companies are trying to get their licenses renewed by tightening the rules for using their e-scooters. Since November 28, anyone wishing to borrow an e-scooter must first scan their ID card. This is intended to prevent children from using the e-scooters and to make it easier to identify people who have parked the e-scooters illegally. For this reason, the e-scooters will have a number debt from December. The rental companies want to employ twice as many staff as before so that e-scooters parked illegally on sidewalks or in squares will be located and removed more quickly in the future. And finally, the rental companies want to make it possible for people with walking disabilities to use their scooters.
It remains to be seen whether the measures are suitable to eliminate the grievances and to convince the deputies of the city of Paris to extend the licenses.