E-scooters: a tale of two cities as London and Paris plot different paths

Electric scooters available for rent on the Place du Trocadero, Paris. Photograph: Dpa Picture Alliance/Alamy

On either side of the Channel, a love-hate relationship between e-scooters has run a typically different course. The French swiftly embraced them; the English belatedly entered a tentative trial engagement, with a reluctance to commit.

Now London is aiming to go deeper, re-tendering contracts in April for another year – while the Paris honeymoon could end with the firms spurned altogether. Although the French capital was an early champion of the battery-powered trottinettes, an extraordinary referendum this Sunday will ask its residents to vote for or against “le free-floating” rental e-scooter.