Paris residents vote to ban electric scooter rentals
Parisians are voting on whether to remove app-rental electric scooters from the streets of the French capital, after city authorities previously welcomed them as a zero-emissions alternative to cars and motorbikes.
But after chaos hit the sector in 2018, the city hall has gradually tightened regulations, creating designated parking areas, limiting top speeds and restricting the number of operators.
Their existence remains controversial, with pedestrians complaining of reckless driving, while a series of incidents has highlighted the dangers of vehicles that can currently be rented by children as young as 12.
The vote will not affect people-owned scooters, as 700,000 units were sold nationwide last year, according to Ministry of Transport figures, and about 100,000 trips are completed daily in France on rented electric scooters in about 200 towns and cities.
