Paris will ban electrical scooters from September 1, the French capital’s mayor stated, after the general public voted to take away them from the streets, nonetheless e-scooter operators stated on Monday they hoped to cease the plan.
The e-scooter ban received 89 % of the votes in accordance to town corridor Twitter account in what was billed as a uncommon “public consultation” that prompted lengthy queues at poll bins across the metropolis. However, turnout within the referendum was low at 7.46 % of registered voters.
Mayor Anne Hidalgo stated she would respect the vote.
“From September 1, there can be no extra electrical scooters for hire in Paris,” she informed a information convention late on Sunday.
Scooter operators pointed to the low voter turnout and stated they hoped Hidalgo would search a compromise.
“We remain hopeful that we can continue to work with Mayor Hidalgo to adopt sensible regulations instead of a ban on e-scooters, and avoid a step backward for Paris,” a spokesperson for Lime stated on Monday.
A spokesman for Dott stated the referendum was “heavily impacted by very restrictive voting methods” which led to a particularly low turnout closely skewed in the direction of older age teams.
French Transport Minister Clement Beaune, seen as a doable contender for the mayor’s publish in 2026, stated on BFM tv the vote was “a massive democratic flop”.
Electric scooters accessed by smartphone apps have operated in Paris since 2018, however following complaints about their anarchic deployment, Paris in 2020 reduce the variety of operators to three.
It gave them a three-year contract, required that scooters’ speeds be capped at 20 km/hour and imposed designated scooter parking areas, related to restrictions being imposed in different cities worldwide. The present contracts run till September.
Operators had supplied additional laws, together with checking customers had been over 18, fixing licence plates so police might establish site visitors offenders and limiting to one passenger.
In 2021, 24 individuals died in scooter-related accidents in France, together with one in Paris. Last 12 months, Paris registered 459 accidents with e-scooters and related automobiles, together with three deadly ones.
“In my work, we see a lot of road accidents caused by scooters, so we really see the negative effects,” normal doctor Audrey Cordier, 38, informed Reuters after voting in opposition to the scooters.
Some voters stated they would favor tighter laws than an outright ban.
“I don’t want scooters to do whatever they want on pavements, but banning them is not the priority,” Pierre Waeckerle, 35, stated.
© Thomson Reuters 2023
