In Paris, self-service electric scooters have been banned since September 1. However, this means of transport is very popular in big cities. So we asked you the question: are you for or against self-service scooters?
Electric scooters have clearly been in the crosshairs of public authorities since they were made available in large cities five years ago. While the city of Paris has just purely and simply banned self-service scooters, pushing the companies Lime, Tier and Dott out, the government has also stepped up. Thus, the minimum age for driving an electric scooter increases from 12 to 14 years and a fixed fine of 135 euros will be applied if two people are on the same machine.
These measures are the result of a criticism shared by a majority of the population according to the City of Paris. The cause is the numerous incivilities committed by scooter users, some of whom barely respect red lights or engage in dangerous driving. Already in 2019, Anne Hidalgo had imposed a reduction in speed on operators who had to restrict their installed fleet to a maximum of 25 km/h as well as specific parking spaces throughout the city.
Will other cities follow suit? We can’t say yet, but it gave us the idea for last week’s poll.
Scooters are harmful, largely because of their use
We then asked you if you were for or against self-service scooters. And our question obviously did not only concern people living or working in Paris.
Overall, you are largely against self-service scooters in urban areas. 76.06% of you consider them harmful and 2.9% see no use in them. To a large extent, you blame not the scooters themselves, but the way they are used. “Scooters are not the problem, but rather people who use them indiscriminately”, indicates for example Cédric in comments. For djlemmings, on the other hand, the problem also comes from their fragility: “Once broken, these devices are difficult to repair and are often thrown away and replaced. Which creates significant pollution. We are far from the ecological device that we are ultimately sold“.
The ecological argument still hits the mark for bobibob who says he is divided: “On the one hand I am for it, because less pollution in the city, because less cars/noise. But on the other hand you have to find a way to park them correctly, because sometimes it’s a big mess on the sidewalk!“.
Note, however, that 14.9% of people who voted are not bothered by scooters and that 5.7% use them – or used them – regularly.
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