April 2023  

Micro-Mobility for Europe regrets the result of the referendum held on 02 April 2023 in Paris, during which citizens voted against the continuation of shared e-scooters. Due to the low turnout, a small group of people have had a disproportionate influence on the city’s urban mobility system.

Discontinuing shared e-scooters in Paris will come at the cost of many citizens who wish to diversify their travel beyond private car ownership. Moving away from shared e-scooters isolates Paris from the rest of the world with major capitals like Washington, Madrid, Rome, London, Berlin and Vienna further enabling this form of decarbonised transport. E-scooters are a concrete solution based on the objectives of the COP21 agreements–signed in Paris, as independent research shows that mode shift from motorised vehicles accounts for almost 20%. As the latest IPCC report from March 2023 shows, changing mobility patterns is a tool for all citizens to prevent a climate catastrophe and availability of shared micro-mobility is part of the solution.

In addition, we fear that such a restrictive approach will also impact the sustainable transportation goals, as outlined in our Joint Letter from November 2022, co-signed by Transport & Environment’s Clean Cities Campaign and the Urban Intergroup from the European Parliament.

In the past weeks and months, city officials have repeatedly voiced criticism towards shared e-scooters but have neglected evidence that should guide balanced policy-making. We regret that the debate in Paris about the availability of shared e-scooter services has been led by emotions rather than facts.

A study commissioned by the City of Paris, completed a year ago but only published in March 2023, shows that shared e-scooters are one of the safest mobility options in Paris. Additionally, MMfE incident data from 2021 taking into account more than 240 million shared e-scooter trips reveals that privately owned e-scooters are twice as often involved in severe accidents than shared e-scooters. Consequently, discontinuing shared e-scooters in Paris may lead to an uptake of private e-scooters, likely leading to more incidents. Overall, MMfE data shows that the risk of incidents is already significantly lower compared to 2019.

Micro-mobility for Europe is committed to working in partnership with authorities towards the adoption of a regulatory framework that encourages the uptake of micro-mobility – a sector that has great potential for improving the living conditions of European citizens and creating safer and more sustainable cities.

MMfE is the alliance of shared micro-mobility providers of e-bikes and e-scooters. Members include Bird, Bolt, Dott, Lime, Superpedestrian, TIER and Voi.