Paris (EFE).- Nearly 1.4 million Parisian voters are called to vote this Sunday to answer an unusual question that generates as much passion as hate: Are you for or against electric scooters for rent in the city? ?
Introduced a little over five years ago as an efficient and low-pollution form of transport, the 15,000 rental scooters scattered throughout the capital have overwhelmed local authorities. If they are a clear success among the young population, it is also true that the number of accidents has exploded.
Scooters (rental or private) were involved in 459 accidents in 2022, with three deaths and 426 injuries (twice as many injuries as in 2019), according to figures from the City Council, headed by the socialist Anne Hidalgo.
“And a third of these accidents end with an admission to the hospital,” adds the councilor for Transport in Paris, the environmentalist David Belliard, to EFE.
The images of scooters (rental or private) violating all kinds of traffic regulations (more than one person on board, with small children at the controls, jumping red lights…) are the daily bread in Paris, where local media and forums on social networks spread videos with dangerous actions.
The power not to renew the concessions to companies expires on August 31
One of the incidents that caused the most impact was the fatal hit-and-run in June 2021 of a 31-year-old woman who was walking along the banks of the Seine with a friend, and who was hit by a scooter with two other women on board, who hit each other. on the run
“In addition, they dirty public space (many times they are left lying anywhere) and create a continuous feeling of insecurity,” insists Belliard, making clear his opposition to this means of transport.
Although the City Council had the power not to renew the concessions to the companies, which expire on August 31, it preferred to organize a citizen vote to mitigate the current “democratic distrust” in the institutions, the councilor points out.
For the right-wing opposition, the referendum aims to make up the traffic chaos that Paris is experiencing due to the conjunction of scooters, bikes, motorcycles and cars, often coinciding on the same road, despite the City Council’s effort to perpetuate new bike lanes (already are 200 kilometers).
A national regulation that includes the minimum age of 14 years
The French government of Emmanuel Macron has also wanted to have weight in the local controversy, through the Minister of Transport, the Parisian Clément Beaune, who is speculated to be interested in running for mayor of the capital in the next municipal elections.
Beaune announced this week that a national regulation is being prepared that includes the minimum age of 14 years (currently 12) to drive an electric scooter and fines of 135 euros for traffic violations.
“This regulation arrives late and has some very soft measures,” criticizes Belliard, who stresses that it is one thing to announce the sanctions, and another to put them into practice, alluding to the lack of police officers for traffic issues.
Rental companies, in campaign
Meanwhile, the three rental companies present in Paris (Lime, Tier and Voi) have also entered the campaign by associating themselves with certain influencers, who highlight the practicality and affordability of this means of transport (prices between 15 and 25 euro cents per minute).
Among the inhabitants of the city, also today very conflicting opinions. Sofía Del Barrio, a Spanish resident in Paris, is among her defenders.
“I think they should leave the situation as it is, because I use scooters every day and so do my friends, and I think that, especially in Paris, where the traffic is horrible, scooters are one of the fastest forms of transportation,” he argues.
Del Barrio believes that the bicycle, the means of transport that Paris intends to promote, “is just as unsafe” as the scooter.
“I will vote yes to keep the scooters”, Mathieu, for his part, adds, who attributes the increase in accidents to the fact that “there are still no bike lanes on all the streets, only on the main boulevards and on the large avenues”.
“I think things should be done to make scootering around Paris safer,” he asserts.
Charlotte, another Parisian neighbor, has a diametrically opposite view: “I don’t use scooters. I hate them and find them very dangerous. The vote is a good thing because many times I have seen accidents on scooters and they also come from anywhere, ”she explains.
Paris, with 2.14 million inhabitants, has 15,000 rental scooters. Whether due to its narrow streets or the enormous presence of tourists, the rate of use is much higher than in other European cities (3.5 daily journeys on average per device, compared to 1.3 in Berlin), which may contribute to the appreciation or abhorrence of the citizens.
