Five years after the implementation of e-scooter rental services, Paris has banned them.
In April, Parisians voted in a referendum to ban e-scooter rentals in the city, following complaints from some quarters over issues like safety, reckless riding and illegal parking, according to forbes.com.
Three e-scooter companies, Lime, Dott and Tier, all signed contracts with the French capital in 2020 to provide a fleet of 15 000 e-scooters.
However, after the companies filed several proposals with the city’s officials on how to address the complaints, Paris’s Mayor, Anne Hidalgo, put the question to the local Parisians, who voted to ban the service.
Fans of e-scooters criticised the vote for its poor turnout and limited number of polling stations, after the vote showed a 90% majority in favour of the ban.
Line, Dott and Tier will still provide e-bike rentals in the city and plan to fire up operations for visitors and residents during the Paris Olympics next year and during tourist seasons.
Paris recently invested in improving its cycling infrastructure to encourage more people to cycle instead of drive, so the e-bike rentals are less likely to gain negative scrutiny.
E-scooter rentals can still be found in other large French cities.
