Paris decides on future of city's e-scooters in vote

Voters in the city of Paris were called to take part in a consultation on Sunday to decide whether to ban the use of rentable electric scooters in the French capital.

Mayor Anne Hidalgo announced the vote in January, which she described as a "public consultation" rather than a referendum, to settle the issue of the divisive means of transport ahead of the 2024 Olympics hosted by the city.

The pro-cycling mayor from the Socialist Party has come out in favor of the ban, calling the e-scooters a "source of tension and worry," but she has promised to respect the result of the vote.

Operators pin hopes on youth

Some 1.6 million people are eligible to vote, including non-French EU residents of the city, but turnout will likely be low.

This is expected to help the ban camp, but the other side is trying to encourage young people to get out and vote.

The three companies that operators of e-scooters in the city — Lime, Dott and Tier — have said they transported nearly 2 million people last year, of which 71% were under 35.

They are offering free round-trips on Sunday to those users who say they are voting. The companies have also paid social media influencers to back their cause.

E-scooters are also popular among the French capital's many tourists, but they are not able to vote and are, in fact, a large part of why some people want a ban.

What is the debate over e-scooters?

Critics say that tourists often do not know how to deal with the city's frenetic traffic or disrespect the rules, riding on sidewalks and traveling two to a scooter.

"I regularly, in fact pretty much all the time, see tourists riding them in pairs, people who often are oblivious to what they are doing, who aren't in control of the scooter," Parisian Raphael Sicat told the Associated Press, adding that he often sees the for-hire scooters involved in crashes.

There is also a debate over whether the scooters are environmentally friendly.

Transport Minister Clement Beaune, who would support a continuation of e-scooters in Paris with more rules, said e-scooters have replaced up to one in five journeys that would otherwise have been made with emissions-producing vehicles.

But critics point to the fact that the batteries have a life expectancy of around just three years and most journeys e-scooters replace would be made on foot or public transport.