Ever since the first dockless e-scooter hire scheme was launched in Singapore in 2016, the app-driven eco-friendly mode of travel has spread around the world, proving particularly popular in cities such as Bristol, where alternative modes of travel are limited or inaccessible. While the global trend has been toward more e-scooters, as Bristolians well know, the use of such schemes has not been without controversy.
It now seems that one of the European early adopters of the rental e-scooters has now fallen out of more with the technology, as this week Parisians voted overwhelmingly to banish for-hire e-scooters from the streets of the French capital in a mini-referendum that the capital's mayor said sent a “very clear message”.
Approximately 15,000 e-scooters could now vanish from central Paris at the end of August when the city’s contracts with the three operators expire.
