It’s certainly easy to cheer the vote to ban e-scooters for public use in Paris. The small electric vehicles – and thus also their users – are indeed a nuisance: After the journey, they are parked around wildly, hundreds of them even end up in the Rhine, the Spree and other rivers every year, or they dash recklessly on sidewalks. How often have I asked myself why the ride on the e-scooter had to end here – be it standing across a narrow sidewalk, squeezed in next to parked cars or on remote paths far away from any building or any bus or train station?
Not to forget the higher risk of accidents that they pose, according to the police union (GdP). For blind and visually impaired people, they represent a tripping hazard. In short: the e-scooters seem like the wolf in sheep’s clothing in the (more or less intensively aimed at) traffic turnaround.
Jennifer Lepies has been working as an editor for MIT Technology Review since 2015 and is responsible for the online presence of the German-language science and technology magazine.
However, a ban for German municipalities will not be necessary. The proliferation of e-scooters will take care of itself. Because many cities are already trying to counteract this, with dedicated parking spaces and stricter usage rules. But there are problems with enforcement in many places. Now, after the announced ban in Paris, some cities like Hanover are considering introducing further rules. The sharing providers will not be happy about this and will make it difficult for them to survive in the market.
The attractiveness of rental scooters
Users will not be thrilled either. After all, the attractiveness of rental scooters lies in the fact that you can quickly and easily get on an available scooter, drive to your destination and leave it there for the next person. If parking is only possible in separate areas and you may have to take a photo of the scooter to prove that it has been parked properly, otherwise the charges would continue, this costs time and effort.
It is questionable who will still be able to survive as a provider in this increasing set of rules. Anyone who wants to drive the e-scooters, too. So if the municipalities stay on course for stricter rules, the number of scooters for rent will be decimated anyway – without a ban. But then former scooter drivers can still do the good, old, but maybe not so attractive thing: walk.
(jl)