The polling stations dedicated to the Parisian consultation on self-service scooters, which must decide the future of these 15,000 contested machines in the capital, opened Sunday morning at 9:00 a.m.
"For or against self-service scooters?". Parisians registered on the electoral lists on March 10, 2022, i.e. 1,382,322 French citizens or nationals of the European Union, are called upon to answer this question during a "citizen vote" convened by the PS mayor Anne Hidalgo.
Voting is open until 7:00 p.m., with results announced at 10:00 p.m.
Each arrondissement has one polling place, except the 16th which has two.
The 21 sites, mostly district town halls with the exception of two gymnasiums (16th and 19th centuries) and a school (16th century), include 203 polling stations, managed by 1,270 agents.
Electronic voting and proxy voting are not possible, to the chagrin of scooter operators who hoped to mobilize their young customers by this means.
This consultation, a first of its kind in the capital, "will engage" the socialist mayor who must decide whether or not to renew the contract with the three private operators (Lime, Tier and Dott).
These agreements, which authorize each to deploy 5,000 scooters in the capital, expired at the end of March.
Technological improvements, campaign on social networks and free race on the day of the vote: the three operators have tried everything to avoid their eviction, which would send a negative signal to medium-sized cities reluctant to authorize this service, when other large metropolises such as Barcelona or Montreal are still blocking their installation.
Electric scooters are accused by their detractors of being abandoned anywhere in public spaces, of speeding past pedestrians on sidewalks, or of not being so ecological because of a poor carbon footprint. Assumed.
However, the pandemic and transport strikes, combined with restrictions on car traffic in the French capital, have favored their multiplication.
To reassure the town hall, the operators have already deployed numerous measures, registering their scooters to better collaborate with the police, increasing controls on the age of users, and reinforcing patrols against poorly parked vehicles.
04/02/2023 09:44:40 - Paris (AFP) - © 2023 AFP
