Paris is about to become one of the only cities to ban e-scooter rentals

Paris volition this week go 1 of the lone cities successful Europe with an outright prohibition connected rented e-scooters — arsenic operators program to ramp up their e-bike fleets to regenerate them up of the 2024 Olympics.

Despite antecedently expressing hopes for a last-minute reprieve, the 3 firms with e-scooter operating licenses successful the French capital, Lime, Dott and Tier, each confirmed to CNBC that they volition person removed their scooters, oregon trottinettes, by the Sept. 1 deadline.

They had a combined fleet of astir 15,000 e-scooters successful the city.

A referendum held successful April gave Parisians 2 choices regarding the rental scooters: for oregon against.

Companies pointed retired that the turnout represented conscionable 7% of those eligible to vote. They besides argued the metropolis would autumn retired of measurement with different municipality hubs embracing an eco-friendly mode of transport that is fashionable with tourists successful 1 of the most-visited cities successful the world. They constituent retired determination volition beryllium nary alteration to backstage e-scooter usage rules.

But the effect was emphatic among those who did vote, with 90% against the trottinettes.

It comes arsenic cities astir the satellite statement whether specified vehicles, which are unlocked via an app and paid for by the minute, are a unsafe nationalist nuisance oregon portion of the aboriginal of municipality mobility.

Shared scooters are inactive contiguous successful different French cities, including Marseille and Lyon.

Many cities person introduced restrictions connected scooters, specified arsenic velocity limits and parking zones enforced via fines for users. Some let them to beryllium ridden connected pavements and successful motorcycle lanes, others bash not. However, outright bans by cities that person antecedently welcomed them are rare.

In Europe, Madrid this twelvemonth reversed a anterior prohibition to let rental firms backmost with new conditions, arsenic Copenhagen besides did successful 2021. Most e-scooters are banned connected nationalist roads successful the bike-loving Netherlands, and nary ride-sharing companies person entered the market.

Tourist hotspots New Orleans and Las Vegas some person ride-share e-scooter bans, but they stay successful 158 different U.S. cities.

Lime, Dott and Tier each said they would present displacement their absorption to increasing their proviso of e-bikes successful Paris aft moving their scooters elsewhere.

"While Lime e-scooters volition depart Paris by the extremity of August for different cities successful Europe, Parisian riders are already pivoting to our expanding fleet of e-bikes," a Lime spokesperson told CNBC.

"We present run doubly the fig of e-bikes than we ever did e-scooters, and are encouraged by the city's continued enactment for cycling up of the 2024 Olympics."

Lime's Paris scooter fleet totaled astir 5,000, versus astir 10,000 bikes. The institution said journeys taken connected its bikes accrued by 73% successful the superior past year.

Dott said it was sending its scooters to places wherever it has signed caller tenders, including Bordeaux and crossed Belgium. A spokesperson said the institution was expanding its e-bike fleet, which it hopes to grow into the Paris suburbs up of the Olympics, which are owed to statesman successful July adjacent year.

E-bikes are not uncontroversial themselves. Critics accidental that they clutter pavements and roads erstwhile not stored properly; are sometimes utilized connected pavements contempt their important velocity abilities; and are besides often utilized by tourists oregon commuters without helmets.

Valère Rousseau, a Parisian moving successful the practice sector, said helium thought the nationalist was much accepting of e-bikes arsenic a utile mode of travel.

"E-scooters are different. They are precise appreciated by young radical but disliked by Parisians due to the fact that parking is inactive an contented and it remains unsafe — nary helmet, sometimes connected the pavement," helium told CNBC.

Reducing car congestion and making the metropolis fully bike-accessible person been immoderate of Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo's cardinal priorities.

In 2022, she announced plans to prohibition astir cars from respective cardinal areas, with roadworthy entree lone for pedestrians, bicycles, nationalist transport and definite permitted cars.

That follows the pedestrianization of areas including ample sections of the banks of the River Seine, portion bikes person been fixed precedence and astir cars banned on the cardinal commercialized Rue de Rivoli.