Paris bounds scooters

After the scooter market flooded the streets of Paris, as in many cities, the French capital is now trying to take back its streets. 

With 12 free-floating scooter operators – which exceeds the number in the US – and about 20,000 scooters, Paris struggled to keep its mobility landscape in order. Broken scooters are thrown in rivers and gardens, while the pavements became competing terrain between scooters and pedestrians.

In a new attempt to bring back order to the chaos, Mayor Anne Hidalgo announced to be planning to impose a speed limit of 2km/h in most areas, and to 8km/h in dense pedestrian areas. In addition, the number of scooter operators will be reduced from 20 to 3, and the number of scooters will be capped as well. 

So far, Paris already imposed fines for riding on the pavement (€135) and for blocking the pavement while parked (€35). 

The scooter legislation fits in a wider global movement of calling the scooter operators to apply with safety rules, such as recently happened in the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo .