Paris dockless e-scooters ban comes into effect

Five years ago, Paris became the first capital city in Europe to allow dockless e-scooters on the streets. Now, after years of controversy and debate, Paris will be the first European capital to ban the scooters, citing safety concerns above all else.

Since e-bikes offered by the same companies - Lime, Tier and Dott - will not be affected by the change in regulation, it seems likely that this rule change will lead to an increased amount of trips taken by bicycle in the French capital.

The decision was made in a spring referendum, in which 89% of voters voted against keeping shared e-scooters in the city. On the face of it, this was an overwhelming majority, although in reality, the turnout to the referendum was just 7.5%.

In the previous few days, some 15,000 scooters have been removed from the city by the companies operating them. Lime, Tier and Dott have redistributed the majority of their e-scooters to other European cities.

The ban comes after numerous measures were taken to control the usage of e-scooters, including reducing the top speed to just 10kph in some areas. Nonetheless, Parisians have decided that these scooters create more harm than good.

During the debate earlier this year, Green deputy mayor David Belliard deputy mayor in charge of transport and public spaces, expressed his objections to the scooters:

“First is safety: for scooter-users and others, such as pedestrians," he said. Then, there was the matter of clogged up pavements and streets: “There has been progress, but it’s still complicated: for example, in parking spots you can find electric scooters strewn across the ground and people obliged to climb over them, including elderly people.”

Finally, Belliard questioned the environmental benefit of the scooters, “which are slightly throwaway and have a very short life”.

On the environmental question, Belliard might have a point. A study into e-scooter use in Paris showed that rarely do these devices replace car journeys, instead replacing journeys otherwise taken on foot or by public transport.