Clogged streets and a 'pedestrian jungle' - Paris considers ban on rental e-scooters

Paris is considering a ban on rented electric scooters, warning that the 15,000-strong fleet presents safety concerns, worries pedestrians, clogs up city streets and has yet to prove its positive impact on the environment.

- Angelique Chrisafis

The mayor, Anne Hidalgo, is expected to announce a decision in the coming weeks as the French capital's three operators - Lime, Dott and Tier - hope to renew their licences in February. The operators have proposed changes such as fitting licence plates so police can track offences, and making ID checks to make sure users are over 18.

Paris was the first city in Europe to open up to the "free-floating" e-scooter in 2018, which could be left anywhere and hired by mobile app.

Two years later, after complaints of anarchic use, the city clamped down, cutting the number of operators to three, tracking and limiting each scooter's speed to 20km/h or 10km/h in some areas and zero in public parks and allocating designated parking areas.

But last week, Maud Gatel, a councillor with the centrist MoDem party, told a Paris council meeting that rental e-scooters had turned the city into a "jungle" where "pedestrians are afraid to cross a street or even walk along the pavement".