E-Scooter Companies To Exit Paris After Vote Defeat

PARIS, FRANCE – MARCH 29: Tier and Lime electric scooters are parked on the pavement on March 29, 2023 in Paris, France. The Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo is organizing a local referendum on Sunday April 2, 2023 to ask Parisians if they want to keep self-service electric scooters in the capital.

E-scooter operators in Paris are preparing to exit the city after residents voted to ban rental schemes for the vehicles.

On Sunday, Parisians voted overwhelmingly to ban the operators of e-scooter rentals in the French capital.

Almost 90% of voters opted to ban the rental programs, though the overall turnout for the ‘public consultation’ was low at just 6-7%.

The vote is non-binding but Paris City Hall said it will respect the outcome and move ahead with imposing a ban on the services.

Three e-scooters companies, Lime, Dott and Tier had been operating a total fleet of 15,000 e-scooters in the city.

Dott said the company will cease its operations in the city once its license expires on September 1.

“We acknowledge the result of this unprecedented referendum, which was heavily impacted by very restrictive voting methods. This led to an extremely low turnout, heavily skewed towards older age groups, which has widened the gap between pros and cons,” a spokesperson for Dott said.

We regret that Parisians will lose a shared and green transport option. The result of this vote will have a direct impact on the travel of 400,000 people per month, 71% of whom are 18-35 year old residents. It is a step back for sustainable transport in Paris ahead of the 2024 Olympics.”

The debate about e-scooters in Paris has been brewing for months. The three companies secured licenses in the city in 2020, amid a broader push by city authorities to slash the number of cars on the road and reduce emissions.

However the roll-out of some 15,000 vehicles by the three companies met its fair share of opponents, including senior members of the city council that moved against the operations.

Chief among their complaints were safety concerns around speeding, reckless use and dangerous parking.

This eventually led to Mayor Anne Hidalgo putting the question to the people.

The decision in Paris could have far reaching effects for the e-scooter industry in Europe.

Paris, one of Europe’s largest cities, is a key market and licenses to operate in the city in 2020 were hot tickets.

A spokesperson for Voi, the Swedish operator active throughout Europe but not in Paris, said the vote outcome was a “sad day” for the industry and a “regrettable” move for the city given the high e-scooter user numbers.

“It’s questionable why a ban on shared electric scooters should even be considered when they have had such a clear positive impact on the green shift,” Voi’s spokesperson said.

“We also fear that this result will not address the safety concerns, as the ban does not cover private scooters which lack crucial safety elements such as speed control and frequent maintenance.”