Paris Votes to Ban E-Scooter Rental Companies

As a result, the three companies that pay for contracts to operate in Paris, including the U.S.-based company Lime, will have to yank their fleet of a combined 15,000 e-scooters in the city by Sept. 1, Paris Mayor

Anne Hidalgo

said Sunday.

The ban marks the first time that any major city globally that had offered contracts for e-scooter rentals in the center of town has made a complete U-turn on its policy, the companies said. It is a blow to scooter companies such as Lime, which had pointed to Paris as an example of how their services could be effectively regulated.

Paris’s regulatory scheme, which automatically limited the top speed of the scooters and required users to use dedicated parking areas or pay fines, has inspired elements of new tender offers or expansions of systems in cities including New York, London and Madrid, said the companies that currently operate in Paris. They also include the Franco-Dutch company Dott and Germany’s Tier Mobility.

Turnout for the vote in Paris on Sunday was low, with 103,084 people voting, or 7.5% of those registered. That compares with more than a million, or 74% of registered voters in Paris, for the second round of the presidential election last year.

The scooter companies said in a joint statement that the low turnout reflected what they called restrictive rules that discouraged the services’ users, with only 21 polling locations listed across the city and no electronic voting. “This led to an extremely low turnout, heavily skewed toward older age groups, which has widened the gap between pros and cons,” they said.

The companies said that their electric-bike rental services in Paris, which aren’t affected by the vote, will continue to operate.

Paris’s City officials had called for the vote because they said the rental scooters were still, despite regulations, clogging sidewalks and were a factor in an increasing number of traffic accidents and injuries from privately owned and rental scooters. The city also argues that the scooters cut into use of public transit.

In the run-up to the election, the three scooter companies argued that they have worked hard to improve their services since their chaotic debut half a decade ago, when scooters littered the streets and angry residents threw them in the Seine River. They note that they now have 400,000 riders making about 1.7 million trips a month.

The companies campaigned with social media ads targeting younger people who make up the bulk of their users, and hiring influencers on services such as TikTok to urge people to vote in favor of the services. “Paris without scooters means your trip home costs more than your night out,” one ad read.

The companies said more accidents come from bikes and privately owned scooters, not their rental ones, in part because rental scooters’ top speed is limited at 12 miles an hour, and they automatically slow to less than 10 miles per hour in crowded streets.

The companies cited data showing that as many as one-fifth of e-scooter rides in Paris replace motor-vehicle trips, reducing overall carbon emissions.

Write to Sam Schechner at [email protected]

As a result, the three companies that pay for contracts to operate in Paris, including the U.S.-based company Lime, will have to yank their fleet of a combined 15,000 e-scooters in the city by Sept. 1, Paris Mayor

Anne Hidalgo

said Sunday.

The ban marks the first time that any major city globally that had offered contracts for e-scooter rentals in the center of town has made a complete U-turn on its policy, the companies said. It is a blow to scooter companies such as Lime, which had pointed to Paris as an example of how their services could be effectively regulated.

Paris’s regulatory scheme, which automatically limited the top speed of the scooters and required users to use dedicated parking areas or pay fines, has inspired elements of new tender offers or expansions of systems in cities including New York, London and Madrid, said the companies that currently operate in Paris. They also include the Franco-Dutch company Dott and Germany’s Tier Mobility.

Turnout for the vote in Paris on Sunday was low, with 103,084 people voting, or 7.5% of those registered. That compares with more than a million, or 74% of registered voters in Paris, for the second round of the presidential election last year.

The scooter companies said in a joint statement that the low turnout reflected what they called restrictive rules that discouraged the services’ users, with only 21 polling locations listed across the city and no electronic voting. “This led to an extremely low turnout, heavily skewed toward older age groups, which has widened the gap between pros and cons,” they said.

The companies said that their electric-bike rental services in Paris, which aren’t affected by the vote, will continue to operate.

Paris’s City officials had called for the vote because they said the rental scooters were still, despite regulations, clogging sidewalks and were a factor in an increasing number of traffic accidents and injuries from privately owned and rental scooters. The city also argues that the scooters cut into use of public transit.

In the run-up to the election, the three scooter companies argued that they have worked hard to improve their services since their chaotic debut half a decade ago, when scooters littered the streets and angry residents threw them in the Seine River. They note that they now have 400,000 riders making about 1.7 million trips a month.

The companies campaigned with social media ads targeting younger people who make up the bulk of their users, and hiring influencers on services such as TikTok to urge people to vote in favor of the services. “Paris without scooters means your trip home costs more than your night out,” one ad read.

The companies said more accidents come from bikes and privately owned scooters, not their rental ones, in part because rental scooters’ top speed is limited at 12 miles an hour, and they automatically slow to less than 10 miles per hour in crowded streets.

The companies cited data showing that as many as one-fifth of e-scooter rides in Paris replace motor-vehicle trips, reducing overall carbon emissions.

Write to Sam Schechner at [email protected]