Self-service electric scooters have been talked about since their launch in France. Dangerous, cumbersome, unsightly, unsustainable… the grievances against these new means of transport are numerous, particularly in the capital, where they abound on every corner of the sidewalk. On Thursday, September 29, market operators were expected at the Hôtel de Ville for an audit supposed to determine whether they are still welcome in Paris.
David Belliard, deputy mayor in charge of mobility, delivered a brief account of this meeting on Twitter. “With Emmanuel Grégoire, we received freefloating scooter operators because the account is not there: scooters parked anywhere, uncertainty about the environmental report, accidents, uninteresting modal shift, non-compliance with the road…explains the interested party. 5 months from the renewal of the contracts, we are asking ourselves the question of continuing or stopping here with the freefloating model for scooters. Are the operators able to react, and quickly? That’s what we asked them. If in the end the negatives outweigh the positives, then the decision will be simple: we will end this model.”.
The mayor of Paris has thus left a month to the operators (Lime, Dot and Tier) to find solutions. But which ones? Since the introduction of these new means of transport, many adaptations have already been made. For example, it is no longer possible to park anywhere, under penalty of a fine, and speed is limited in certain areas of the capital. The number of operators had also been reduced to three, by calls for tenders, in particular making it possible to limit sabotage on competing machines. In Lyon, the town hall has even decided to prohibit the use of these devices by minors.