Parisians decide this Sunday whether or not to ban the more than 15,000 scooters scattered throughout the city

Nearly 1.4 million Parisian voters they are called to vote this sunday to answer an unusual question that generates as much passion as hatred: Are you for or against the electric scooters for rent in the city?

Introduced a little over five years ago as an efficient and low-pollution form of transport, the 15,000 rental scooters scattered throughout the French capital they have overwhelmed local authorities. It is true that they have a frank success among the young population, it is also true that the number of accidents has exploded.

The scooters (for rent or private use) starred 459 accidents in 2022, with three deaths and 426 wounded (twice as many injured as in 2019), according to figures from the Paris City Council, headed by the socialist Anne Hidalgo.

“And a third of These types of accidents end with an admission to the hospital”added to the Efe agency the councilor for Transport in Paris, the environmentalist David Belliard.

“In addition, they dirty the public space, it is common to find scooters lying on any side of the streets of the capital and create a feeling of continuous insecurity,” insists Belliard, making clear his opposition to this means of transport.

The images of scooters violating all kinds of rules traffic (more than one person on board, with small children at the controls, jumping red lights and a long etcetera) are the daily bread in Paris, where local media and forums on social networks spread videos with dangerous actions.

One of the incidents that caused the most impact was the fatal hit-and-run in June 2021 of a 31-year-old woman who was walking along the banks of the Seine with a friend, and who was hit by a scooter with two other women on board, who fled.

Although the Consistory had the power not to renew the concessions to the companieswhich expire on August 31, preferred to organize a citizen vote to mitigate the current “democratic distrust” in the institutions, says the councilor.

For the right-wing opposition, the referendum aims to make up the chaos of traffic that Paris experiences due to the conjunction of scooters, bikes, motorcycles and cars, often coinciding on the same road, despite the City Council’s efforts to perpetuate new bike lanes (there are already 200 kilometres).

The French government of Emmanuel Macron has also wanted to have weight in the local controversy, through the Minister of Transport, the Parisian Clement Beaunewhose speculates his interest in running for mayor of the capital in the next municipal elections. Beaune announced this week that it is preparing a national regulation that includes the minimum age of 14 years — currently they are 12 — to drive an electric scooter and fines of 135 euros for traffic offenders.

“That regulation He arrives late and has very soft measures“, criticizes Belliard, who emphasizes that it is one thing to announce the sanctions, and another to put them into practice, alluding to the lack of police officers for traffic issues.

Meanwhile, the three rental companies present in Paris (Lime, Tier and Voi) also they have entered the campaign associating with certain influencers, who highlight the practicality and affordability of this means of transport with prices between 15 to 25 euro cents per minute.

Among the inhabitants of the city, there are also very conflicting opinions. Sofia Del Barrio, a Spanish woman resident in Paris, is among its defenders. “I think they should leave the situation as it is, because I use scooters every day and so do my friends, and I think that, especially in Paris, where the traffic is horrible, the scooter is one of the fastest forms of transportation,” he argues.

Del Barrio believes that the bike, the means of transport that Paris intends to promote, “is just as insecure” as the scooter. “I I will vote yes to keep the scooters“, third, for his part, Mathieu, who attributes the increase in accidents to the fact that”there are still no bike lanes on all streets, only on the main boulevards and on the big avenues”.

“I think that things should be done to make circulation safer around Paris on a scooter,” he asserts.

Charlotte, another Parisian neighbor, has a diametrically opposite vision: “I don’t use skateboards. I hate them and I find them very dangerous. The vote is a good thing because many times I have seen accidents on scooters and also they come from anywhere“, Explain.

Paris, with 2.14 million inhabitants, He has 15,000 rental scooters. Whether through its narrow streets or due to the huge number of touriststhe utilization rate is much higher than other European cities (3.5 daily journeys on average per device, compared to 1.3 in Berlin), which can contribute to the appreciation or abhorrence of citizens.