Paris votes to outlaw "nuisance" two-wheelers

Residents of the French capital have overwhelmingly voted in favor of banning rental e-scooters from the city’s streets. The ban covers scooters rented to tourists and visitors by companies such as Lime, Dott, and Tier, which users book via smartphone apps. Mayor Anne Hidalgo welcomed scooter rental firms to the city in 2018, but residents complained about riders weaving precariously in between traffic, mounting sidewalks, and abandoning the scooters on roads, in parks, and even in the River Seine. Last year saw 34 people killed and 600 others seriously injured while riding e-scooters or similar mobility devices, according to France’s national road safety agency. Hidalgo has changed her tune, claiming that a ban would “reduce nuisance” on the streets.

Paris will become the first EU capital to ban rental e-scooters entirely. Copenhagen outlawed the devices in 2020, but allowed them to return the following year with some stiffer restrictions. Moscow authorities imposed a 15kph (9mph) speed limit on e-scooters in the center of the Russian capital.