Paris, remove all rental electric scooters from the streets of the city

In a few days, self-service electric scooters, which were rented for 23 cents a minute, will disappear from the streets of Paris. The three operators Dr, Lime And Tierthe only ones authorized by the Municipality to manage the service, they will remove all their assets by the end of Augustas was decided by the citizen referendum of 2 April.

89% of voters (who, however, represented only 7% of voters due to strong abstention) chose to ban scooters. The Paris Commune had advocated this measure, emphasizing a 189% increase in accidents since 2019 and arguing that scooters contribute to a climate of anxiety for Parisian pedestrians and motorists.

The three companies they are gradually taking away their 15,000 loc trots, in order to complete the withdrawal before the deadline, scheduled for August 31st. As he relates Le Monde, for operators this is a difficult decision to accept. A measure that, for the companies that managed the service, “is painful”, as the French media write, also because it involves the loss of over 100 jobs. The three rental companies say they carried nearly 2 million people in the city last year, mostly under 35.

The Californian company Limes said that Paris is an exception in Europe: the French capital, which welcomed them in 2018, will become the first in Europe to completely ban these means.

The scooters, however, will start a new life elsewhere: those of Limes they will be transferred to other «cosmopolitan and international» cities such as Lille, Copenhagen or London (in the meantime, however, the company has placed a real farewell postcard on each vehicle, complete with emotional greetings to the citizens). The German company Tieron the other hand, will move its electric scooters to Germany, especially Berlin, and Poland, especially Warsaw.