Paris votes to ban electric scooters

Photo: Alamy.

From "Parisians vote to ban rental e-scooters from French capital by huge margin," Guardian:

Parisians have voted to rid the streets of the French capital of rental electric scooters, with an overwhelming 90% of votes cast supporting a ban, official results show.

Paris was a pioneer when it introduced e-scooters, or trottinettes, in 2018 as the city’s authorities sought to promote non-polluting forms of urban transport.

But as the two-wheeled vehicles grew in popularity, especially among young people, so did the number of accidents: in 2022, three people died and 459 were injured in e-scooter accidents in Paris.

In what was billed as a “public consultation” voters were asked: “For or against self-service scooters?”

I think in the US, which is car dominated when it comes to mobility, high numbers of the electorate would vote against sustainable mobility measures--bicycling, transit (some cities vote in favor, others vociferously against), trails (Hamilton County/Cincinnati voted against a trail measure a few years ago), pedestrian improvements. 

Reckless driving.  With electric scooters, part of it is perception that many of the riders ride in a deliberately dangerous fashion.  I know I see that myself, and I can't believe how fast they will ride, given the reality that road condition can make riding at higher speeds dangerous.

A major spark for the backlash against scooters was the death of a pedestrian on the sidewalk, after being hit by an electric scooter ("Paris police search for two e-scooter riders after pedestrian killed," Guardian). But there have been a number of deaths and many injuries, not just in Paris, but across France.

Poor parking.  But probably the biggest issue is how so many users don't park scooters in a way that is respectful of public space. ("Electric scooters have ruined Paris – we can't let London be next," Telegraph, 2019).  From the article:

Normally, anything that combats the notorious traffic congestion on the streets of Paris deserves applause. The city was a pioneer in public bike-rental schemes when it launched Vélib’ in 2007, beating London by five years. You can now get electric versions, and the dockless bike revolution that swept across most major cities has hit Paris too.

But pedal power requires a bit of effort – even on an e-bike – so the next step to make life easier for commuters was to bring in little electric scooters, which the American operator Lime did in the summer of 2018. While I still can’t get over the sight of grown-ups riding these things that look better powered by small children, I had to admit the scooters – known as trottinettes – made sense if you want to whizz around the city with relative ease. They’re known as “free-floating”, meaning you can pick up and drop off where you please by using an app. But what I wasn’t expecting was the bedlam that descended on the streets of Paris.

On my latest visit in October, I was taken aback by the sheer number of scooters lying abandoned in the streets. In front of the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, along crowded streets, on bridges, thrown into the Seine – hundreds were just dumped unceremoniously once users finished their journey, or had their journeys curtailed by a flat battery. They almost had the appearance of a city-wide art installation – a pathos invoked by what looked like giant toys discarded here and there. I wouldn’t be surprised to see an Instagram hashtag of “forgotten scooters in picturesque places”.

Getty Images, 2021.  Scooters parked in the public space in Paris.

How do you get people to follow rules?  I think this is one of the unintended problems of sharing programs like scooters, seated electric scooters (Revel sharing in NYC and San Francisco), and perhaps even bikes (although less so), in that people join and use the mode without necessarily having to demonstrate they know how to use the device safely.

Paris introduced rules after the introduction, in response to the problems.  Later so did France more generally ("Electric scooters: France introduces new rules to 'restore tranquillity'," BBC) but apparently that wasn't enough.  The national rules include:

• Riders must be at least 12 years of age
  
• Riding on the pavement will be prohibited unless in designated areas, and then at walking speed only
• Only one rider will be allowed per device, and no mobile phone use will be allowed
• Users cannot go against the traffic flow and must use cycle paths where available
• Riders will not be allowed to wear headphones while on their scooter
• By next July, the scooters' top speed will be capped at 25km/h
• Users riding on permitted faster roads must wear a helmet and high-visibility clothing
• E-scooters will be banned completely on country roads

 Rules are one thing.  You need compliance.

It's unfortunate, because electric scooters can be a part of urban mobility solutions that shift the mobility paradigm away from dominance by the automobile ("We review the swiftest way to see the Paris sights — by e-scooter," Times of London).

What about the US?  Paris has 15,000 scooters.  There are so many fewer in the US, that the impact is minimal.  Although there is no question that scooters are often poorly parked, even when parking areas are provided. 

While a goodly number of the trips are trasnportational, perhaps even a majority are more about recreation ("What the e-scooter industry hasn't figured out about Santa Monica: It's recreation not transportation," 2018).

In Salt Lake, I noticed that Spin has a few scooter stations, but maybe that's a function of an agreement with the University of Utah, since I've only seen such stations on their campus.  And the number of slots is minimal. 

Referenda should be held only during regular elections.  WRT the vote in Paris, it's not like a referendum that is part of a general election ballot, it's a voluntary vote, and that is likely to draw opponents who are not a more random sample of the electorate.  Personally, I believe such votes should only be taken during general elections from the standpoint of fairness.

Sustainable mobility framework.  This entry,"Further updates to the Sustainable Mobility Platform Framework" (2018) aims to create a master "mode" framework for sustainable mobility.  It's augmented by additional information in the various comments, which needs to be compiled into an updated entry.

What are now called "micromobility" services--bicycles, electric bicycles, scooters, electric scooters, skateboards, etc.--are a subset.

Revel pivots to EV infrastructure promotion.  In mentioning Revel above, I've been out of touch.  Originally they were created to provide shared mopeds, first in NYC, then expanding to other cities like Washington and Miami.

Since then they've dropped most cities, except for New York and San Francisco, and they've pivoted adding other electricity-based mobility services, electric cars functioning as taxis (Bollore tried this in Paris and other cities in North America and it wasn't sustainable), and installing high quality electric charging infrastructure.