Paris authorities have warned operators of the thousands of electric scooters that have inundated the city to keep them off pavements or face a temporary ban amid rising complaints from pedestrians.
On Monday, the ten competitors who have launched services in Paris all signed a “code of good conduct” with the mayor’s office, which says the city is now “saturated” with the devices.
The companies — with catchy one-syllable names such as Lime, Bolt, Wind and Flash — have collectively put 15,000 scooters on the streets in the past few months, causing tensions that have emerged in cities worldwide from Madrid to Los Angeles.
Fans have embraced them as a quick and cheap way to get around, since the “dockless” devices are unlocked with a phone app and can be left anywhere when a ride is finished.
That is exactly the problem, critics say, pointing to scooters strewn across the city’s stately squares or abandoned in piles littering narrow sidewalks, to the bane of people hauling groceries or pushing prams.
They have also been used as makeshift weapons by protesters who have hurled them at police during the weekly “yellow vest” protests against President Emmanuel Macron which erupted last November.
“We hope this charter will be a step toward building better relationships with operators,” Paris’s deputy mayor for transport Christophe Najdovski said at a press conference on Monday.
The city went through a similar process last year, when thousands of park-anywhere rental bikes were scattered across the city in a move that caught city officials by surprise. Hundreds of bikes were vandalised or stolen — some ending up in the bottom of the city’s canals — and most of the companies have since quit the market.
Data sharing
Paris has already introduced fines for riding electic scooters on the pavement to 135 euros ($150) and will levy 35-euro fines for users who cause an obstruction by parking on a pavement.
Under the new code signed with the city, scooter fleet operators must promise to distribute the devices in “clearly designated and listed” parking areas, and make sure their clients use them.