Parisians vote to ban rental e-scooters from French capital by huge margin

[marmar]

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?”

.....(snip).....

The ban won between 85.77% and 91.77% of the votes in the 20 Paris districts that published results, according to the City of Paris website on what was billed as a rare “public consultation” and prompted long queues at ballot boxes around the city. The vote was non-binding but city authorities have vowed to follow the result. .................(more)

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/02/parisians-vote-on-banning-e-scooters-from-french-capital

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Back in the 50's/60's France and Italy were known for their motor scooters.

Then phased in Mo-Peds.

Are the present e-scooters faster and harder to maneuver or is it the lithium battery or what causes the increase in accidents?

[JHB]

3. The ban is against rentals, not the scooters themsleves

My guess is that that they look simple to operate, but require some familiarity to do so safely. Apparently, too many casual users flout a number of conventions essential to life in a busy city. From the article:

Detractors argue that e-scooter users disrespect the rules of the road and regularly flout a ban on riding on pavements. The vehicles are also often haphazardly parked or thrown into the River Seine.

[sanatanadharma]

2. Those drive them and drop them scooters are worse than pidgins in the city

Unlike pidgins in the park, humans supposedly are advanced enough to pick up after themselves and look out for others.
And park without littering the sidewalks on which they should not be driving.

Montevideo, Uruguay endured the plague for about one year. One no longer sees abandoned, vandalized, tossed and trashed trottinettes littering the public lanes here now.

[JHB]

5. Just as a side note, the "pigeons" is the word for the birds

A "pidgin" is a simplified language that develops to let people who who speak different language communicate with each other. There are a lot of them, but the best known is probably the one that coined the name, Chinese Pidgin English ("chop chop" and all that).

Savvy?

[brush]

8. The poster is most likely aware of the correct spelling of "pidgeon"...

and went with "pidgin" to emphasize the ubiquitous and annoying factor of the urban pests.

[sanatanadharma]

11. I wish I could claim such but no, I made a mistake

A mistake like the ubiquitously annoying scooters scattered on the walkways.

[sanatanadharma]

10. Thank you for the correction for my old man mistake

[Goonch]

4. 👇👇👇🛴

[sanatanadharma]

12. We might wish people were orderly, neat, considerate, and good citizens neatly parking their scoots

But no! The reality is scooters left wherever the user ceases to use it. They are not returned to any designated places.

[lostnfound]

6. I love to see young people using them instead of cars around campus

Yes, it scares me too. But they look like freedom, vastly better for environment, no parking headaches.

[moondust]

7. Pedestrians first!

I can't imagine walking around sightseeing in Paris and having to be constantly looking out not to step into the path of a careless scooter rider. Maybe they need to treat them more like cars and motorcycles with an age limit, training, licensing, insurance, arrest record, accident record, etc. ???

[brush]

9. The "public consultation" concept is a great, inexpensive and quick way to get...

public consensus without the expense of partisanship and elections. American cities should adapt this idea asap.

[helpisontheway]

13. My son goes to a large university and used the bird scooters

to get around campus. It was so expensive. He paid about $6 to get to the other side of the campus. And he was doing that a few times a day. I told him to start to leave early and ride the bus if possible. Finally we purchased one as a Christmas gift. However, it always made me uneasy because of the way the students drive. He has a car now so he rarely uses it (usually on a really nice day or something). However, the bird scooters are VERY popular on his campus (of 23,000 students). You see the scooters everywhere. I have watched the workers pull up and collect them for charging and then return them later..