Debating the Scooter Crackdown in Paris
In all parts of the world, people started thinking about the significance of the negative side of automobile traffic in the urban environment. One of the clearest examples of recent years is Paris.
The Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, set an objective for excluding most vehicles crossing the city center (through-traffic crossing) in 2022 to cut pollution and noise levels and construct a room for walking and cycling. This decision excludes the residents, people with disabilities, public transport vehicles, and those used for deliveries or services.
The embargo will eliminate 55% of the traffic – more than 100,000 cars – passing through the zone on average per day. Paris is also reclaiming 50% of on-street parking for walking and cycling and designing a 650km cycle grid out to the city periphery. Among many efforts, the city has already precluded heavily polluting diesel cars from within the beltway and deprived car access on many streets.
In addition to such bans, the mayor also drew attention to the already existing and accepted modes of public transport. One of them is scooters. In the meeting with Le Parisien newspaper, Anne Hidalgo announced the referendum, which followed a lengthy examination of the services by municipality officials. While the mayor said she leaned towards a ban, she felt residents should have the final say.
Paris has become one of the biggest markets for such services. Moreover, the city had been a founder of the establishment of the rules that were a part of an attempt to force e-scooters towards a safer and more acceptable to residents’ manner of operation.
A point for a discussion: would you consider the opinion of the mayor on an issue involving a particular type of public transport even a bit more valuable than an opinion of a regular citizen with the right to vote (keeping in mind that her opinion mentioned in public might influence the choices of voters)? Do you think we can find her at our level of perception of such a state branch? For me, it is slightly perplexing how the quality and significance of a fixed type of public transport is determined in this case. If the mayor truthfully uses it and discerns all its benefits or, on the contrary, disadvantages, then, given her experience and knowledge, I would consider her logic and, most likely, would accept it. However, if she does not utilize, in this case, scooters, how can we be confident that the statistical data given to her is correct and fair (objective and not altered by needs or wants of those providing it)?
In any case, here is the set of arguments that were used to accentuate the sharpness of the issue. Despite measures of the city and the three licensed companies - Lime, Dott, and Tier - residents have continued to criticize scooters. The e-bikes, which must be parked in designated bike areas and are ridden primarily on the streets in the growing network of bike lanes, have achieved greater acceptance. "But scooters stay extremely divisive”, Hidalgo told Le Parisien. The city keeps receiving reports of riders, commonly tourists, riding the scooters on sidewalks, dropping them in parks, and even throwing them into the Seine.
David Belliard, the Paris deputy mayor for urban transport, said that the analysis confined that the scooters did not make sense from a cost-benefit perspective.
Now, let’s look at it from another perspective. I am sharing my personal experience with scooters in Paris. In 2022, I got lucky to visit Paris several times, and most of them, I actively used scooters. Now details. Where? - in the center of Paris. When? - mostly at night. Why? - the metro is closed, night buses are rare, and uber prices have never been higher. Were there any issues during the ride? - no, as there were no cars or people around. Would that level of accessibility be as high during the day? - no, because the traffic and crowded streets would not let me freely move around the city. Is the problem related to a drastic misuse of scooters, or something can be enhanced instead of their prohibition? - debatable. What can be done, then? - firstly, I did not see a consistent bike trail, even on the main streets. This inconsistency encourages users of e-bikes to move closer to the pedestrian side or side of the car traffic. Secondly, the night public transport options of the world's fashion capital and such a megapolis as Paris are too limited. All such factors are pushing the riders towards a more unsafe exploitation of the scooters.
Now, what would have happened if the scooters were banned? I would have to pay for the uber ride, which I do not fancy much. Or I would have to walk/wait for the night bus, which could potentially lead to me skipping my bus back home.
Rent a bike! The bike parking spots are much rarer, and the process of setting up the bike takes more time. People with injuries, that aren't able to use the bicycle, can operate the e-bike, and so on. Scooters win in accessibility and speed.
The question to answer is: how many of us are there? Those who need access to affordable and flexible public transport even at night? Those who are working late, traveling, escaping from something, and how can municipalities provide us with the necessary means for movement at any point in time?
Bibliography:
O’Brien, Chris. “Paris Mayor Announces April 2023 Vote on Banning E-Scooters.” Forbes, 18 Jan. 2023, www.forbes.com/sites/chrisobrien/2023/01/16/paris-mayor-announces-april-2023-vote-on-banning-e-scooters/.