Parisians expressed their clear opposition to rental electric scooters on Sunday, voting almost 90% against their use in an unprecedented referendum, according to figures published by the city council.
The "citizen vote" was marked by a very low turnout, barely 7.46% of registered voters, for a total of 103,084 votes, according to official data.
Mayor Anne Hidalgo had pledged to "respect purely and simply the result", whatever it was.
"On September 1, there will be no more rental scooters in Paris," he confirmed when announcing the results in the evening.
She herself campaigned for the vote "against", considering that the departure of the scooters would reduce the "nuisance" in the streets and sidewalks of the capital.
The operators Lime, Tier and Dott, for their part, complained that there were only about twenty places to vote after they unsuccessfully requested that electronic voting be opened, preferred by young people, who are their main clients.
"The result of this vote will have a direct impact on the transfers of 400,000 people per month," warned the three companies, and anticipated consequences for the city's finances, since they will stop paying about 930,000 euros a year.
"From now on, our priority as responsible employers is to secure the future of our employees," they said.
David Belliard, head of the city's Transportation office, said the council "will work with them on the social aspects" of the issue.
After welcoming them in 2018, Paris will become the first European capital to completely ban these two-wheelers after August 31, when the contracts with Lime, Tier and Dott expire.
Critics of rental electric scooters argue that they are abandoned anywhere in public space, that they run over pedestrians on the sidewalks and that, in the end, they emit a harmful carbon footprint.
Dangerous when driven carelessly, these private or rental vehicles were involved in 408 accidents in Paris in 2022, killing seven people and injuring 459, according to data from authorities.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
