After the Paris ban, what’s next for e-scooters?

Whichever grievances prompted Parisians to vote out shared electric scooters on the 2 April referendum, it was undoubtedly the same set of concerns that other cities struggle with: poor parking, reckless driving, lack of safety, serious injuries, multiple people riding on the same vehicle, conflict with other road users, e-vehicles dumped in rivers, canals and other water basins etc.

Unsurprisingly, the Paris ban triggered a never-before-seen reflection on the future of e-scooters. If the French capital took safety and bad behaviour concerns seriously, why shouldn’t other cities? The question bounced across digital media, leading to the inevitable guessing game: who will be next?

In Belgium, Elke Van den Brandt, Brussels Capital Region’s Mobility Minister, issued a sharp warning just after the Paris vote: if attempts to improve safety and regulate shared e-scooters usage won’t succeed in the Brussels region, within a year, “other stricter measures will be considered. For this, we are looking carefully at what is happening in other cities.” Last summer, Brussels imposed new rules, including a 20 km/h speed limit on roads, an eight km/h limit on pedestrian areas, as well as a ban on riding on sidewalks. This latter is a particularly crucial measure to protect the elderly and people with a vision and mobility impairment “who choose their itinerary according to how freely they can walk on the sidewalks”, Van den Brandt remarked.

Yet beyond these urban challenges, for mobility experts e-scooters remain a strong ally of green and sustainable mobility in cities.

The two-wheelers may contribute to reducing private car use, improve air quality and congestion and are a more environmentally friendly way to commute in urban areas. The e-vehicles are also an affordable green mode of transport as they are considerably cheaper than shared cars, and can be used to move between public transportation networks rapidly.

The need for protection extends to e-scooter riders themselves: vulnerable road users like cyclists and pedestrians are at high risk of getting injured in a road accident. The number of accidents involving e-scooters tripled in the Brussels region in just a year, data gathered between the spring of 2021 and 2022 shows.  

For Peter Staelens, Head of Mobility at Eurocities, the two-wheelers can positively impact urban mobility, but only if adequately regulated. “Shared e-scooters have the potential to become part of a wider mix of sustainable transport solutions in cities, but their deployment needs to be embedded in local planning strategies, regulations and enforcement procedures,” Staelens remarks.

Indeed, the discussion on the benefits and challenges of e-scooters in urban areas is divisive. This is especially true for cities as it forces them to choose between competing priorities.

As it seems, municipalities are unlikely to draw final conclusions any time soon. Instead, many local governments have chosen to adopt a middle-of-the-road approach: on the one hand, they’re tightening the rules to tackle unruly behaviours. On the other, cities are seeking private operators’ crucial help, prompting e-vehicle companies to do their share if they want to remain in business.

Like in the Brussels capital region, a clampdown on unregulated parking, restrictions on same-scooter double riding and speed limits are high on cities’ agenda across Europe.

• Last year, Rome announced new measures to ban riders below 18, bring the maximum speed to 20km per hour and cap the number of operators from seven to three.
• Further north, Riga recently submitted a proposal to the Latvian parliament to allow e-scooter parking only in designated areas, to revoke or suspend the license of sharing services, set speed limits, and impose license plates for e-scooters.
• To tackle unruly parking, the city of Helsinki is considering new rules that would impose parking of shared e-scooters on designated locations only, as is now the case for shared e-bikes.
• Finally, in Czechia, the city of Brno recently enforced new shared e-scooter parking regulations that resulted in fines for operators disobeying the law.