PARIS.- The Parisians expressed this Sunday their outspoken opposition to rental electric skateboards, with nearly 90% speaking out once morest their use in an unprecedented referendum, according to figures published by the city council.
The “citizen vote” was marked by a very low turnout, less than 8% of voters registered, he told the Paris mayor’s office.
“After the end of the day there is no incident that might alter the validity of the vote. We salute the quality of the voting system and the professionalism of the mobilized agents”, highlighted the president of the Control Commission, Yves Charpenel.
the mayor Anne Hidalgo had pledged to “respect purely and simply the result”whatever it was.
She herself campaigned for the vote ” once morest”, since she considered that the departure of the skateboards would reduce the “nuisance” in the streets and sidewalks of the capital.
After hosting them in 2018, Paris will become on August 31st the first European capital to completely ban these two-wheelerswhen the contracts with Lime, Tier and Dott, the three private operators, expire.
In favor of the system, the 800 jobs that are now threatened and the flexibility for commuting that they provide. Some of the rental companies had even allowed its free use during the day to facilitate participation.
The operators have already taken “note” of the result and have argued that participation might have been “broader and more representative” if more tables had been opened and electronic voting allowed.
Los detractors of rental electric skateboards argue that they are abandoned anywhere in public space, that they run over pedestrians on the sidewalks and that, in the end, they emit a harmful carbon footprint.
Dangerous when driven carelessly, these private and for-hire vehicles were involved in 408 accidents in Paris during 2022, in which seven people died and 459 were injuredaccording to data from the authorities.
AFP and DPA Agencies
THE NATION
