Paris on Friday became the first European capital to ban free-floating electric scooters, or trotinettes, from city streets – leaving fans frustrated but the majority of residents glad to be rid of them.
The issue is extremely divisive, mayor Anne Hidalgo said before a public vote in April on whether they should be prohibited.
A conclusive 89 percent of Parisians voted in favour of the ban, which came into force on 1 September.
However, the rare public consultation, as city hall decribed it, drew a turnout of just 7.4 percent despite long queues at ballot boxes around the city.
Pointing to the low voter turnout, scooter operators urged Hidalgo to seek 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 scooter provider Lime said.
French Transport Minister Clement Beaune, a possible contender for the mayor's post in 2026, said the vote was a massive democratic flop.
Some voters said they would prefer tighter regulations 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, said.
"Many people were sad at the decision," said Paris-based American influencer Amanda Rollins, 33, who often gets around by scooter – one of 400,000 people to do so in 2022, according to figures from the operators.
End of an era! Goodbye to free-float electric scooters in Paris pic.twitter.com/JRUWpmYl7S
— Genevieve Mansfield (@gen_mansfield) August 28, 2023
'Nuisance'
With complaints of users jostling through pedestrians on pavements or dumping their rides awkwardly at intersections, the city's 15,000 two-wheeled machines had turned into nuisances for many Parisians, Hidalgo said at the time.
Electric scooters accessed through smartphone apps have operated in Paris since 2018, but following complaints about their anarchic deployment, Paris in 2020 cut the number of operators to three.
It gave them a three-year contract, required that speeds be capped at 20 km/hour and imposed designated scooter parking areas, similar to restrictions being imposed in other cities worldwide.
The contracts ran until September.
In 2021, 24 people died in scooter-related accidents in France, including one in Paris.
Last year, Paris registered 459 accidents with e-scooters and similar vehicles, including three fatal ones.
"In my work, we see a lot of road accidents caused by scooters, so we really see the negative effects," general physician Audrey Cordier, 38, told Reuters after voting against the scooters.
Removing floating scooters from Paris will not mean that they disappear from the capital's streets altogether, as many people have made the jump to owning their own.
Road safety chief Florence Guillaume strongly encouraged scooter users to wear helmets, which have been made obligatory in some European cities.
(with newswires)
