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Paris votes to ban rental e-scooters

france24.com

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Re: Paris votes to ban rental e-scooters

#311

Post by arijun »

solatic wrote: post #132

Here in Tel Aviv, they'll never get rid of them for at least one reason: they're the only form of at-least-semi-public transportation available on the weekend (Shabbat) and Jewish holidays, when the law forbids buses and trains from running. Meet a date at 10 PM on Friday night? Scoot. Catch the Saturday 5 AM tour bus to a day-hike that's meeting on the other side of town? Scoot. They've also helped boost demand for…

The free Saturday busses [1] fill this niche pretty well, although the scooters are probably more convenient if you’re not traveling along one of the lines. They don’t solve the issue of the trains and inter-city busses being down, so people that want to visit their parents in another township still need to own a car.

[1] https://busofash.co.il/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/2022-07-%D...

Re: Paris votes to ban rental e-scooters

#312

Post by bluecalm »

forgetfreeman wrote: post #123
arijun wrote: post #47

I would like to provide a contrasting viewpoint. I can’t speak to the situation in Paris, but in the city I live in, scooters are amazing. They reduce car usage which is better for both pedestrians and car users. They turn a 45 minute walk/30 minute bus ride/20 minute cab into a 10-15 minute trip, which opens up much more of the city (the city I live in was not built for the number of cars it has in it so getting any…

Here rental scooters are an absolute plague. Their riders routinely ignore both traffic laws and common sense and are a threat to both themselves and pedestrians. There's talk of some form of crackdown amongst the local city council members and I would be delighted to see them banned outright.

Just ban cars first. They are big, dangerous, smelly, loud, driven too fast and they actually kill thousands of people per year, not just cause dangerous situations. Any problem e-scooters have is multiple times worse with cars and they actually have 95+% of the infrastructure dedicated to them and aren't forced into narrow parts of sidewalk called bike lines.

Re: Paris votes to ban rental e-scooters

#313

Post by soco »

vetinari wrote: post #292
soco wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's an answer to this, an answer which I see implemented in some places: cutting into the car lanes. Because you don't have to drive through the historical center.

In the cities, where nobody really lives in the historical center, it is doable. (We are not talking about driving through; we are talking about access/servicing; there are very few cities without a ring -- or several rings -- where driving through center is the fastest way from one end to another). In the cities, where real people live there, it is not. Every part of the city needs servicing, including center. Your…

It's never this black and white, also not needed. Usually city centers are closed _for outsiders_, while allowing the residents and local business traffic. This already curbs the traffic a lot and reduces also a lot the need for a second car lane - or such.

Edit: just for clarity: this model is already working (plumbers, movers and locals included).

Re: Paris votes to ban rental e-scooters

#314

Post by jjgreen »

ChrisRR wrote: post #206
TylerE wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rental escooters are a MENACE - and i'm not old either - just been nearly mown down by one several times.

I hear so often from people who were "nearly" mown down, but barely ever from someone who was actually mown down

For Isabelle Vanbrabant, any regulations are too late. The pianist at Paris’s famed opera was coming home from work last month and walking across a square near Les Halles when a rider on an electric scooter came up from behind, knocking her over and continuing on his way.

She fell on her right arm, suffering multiple fractures. She yelled for the rider to return, which he then did, and to call for help. However, her prognosis is uncertain.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/06/paris-taking-s...

Re: Paris votes to ban rental e-scooters

#315

Post by mcv »

bluescrn wrote: post #301
snakeboy wrote: post #297

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Paris and Berlin the alternatives are probably bikes, metro, or walking...

The 'Bicycles are fine but e-scooters are awful' argument comes up a lot, but doesn't make much sense. E-bikes are often ignored or just effectively invisible. (I'll agree that rental scooter services have unique problems, but we shouldn't allow personally-owned scooters to be banned along with them)

The big question on whether e-scooters are great or awful really depends on what they're replacing. Bikes? Then they're awful. But cars? Then they're fantastic. But which is it?

In Amsterdam, my impression is that fat-tired e-bikes have become the standard replacement for mopeds, which I think is an improvement.

Re: Paris votes to ban rental e-scooters

#316

Post by john_the_writer »

ostenning wrote: post #260

Great, lets now move to ban them from other EU capitals. Its an issue in Berlin, so many youths ride these scooters recklessly on footpaths, hurting pedestrians or worse.

Better bike paths, and personal ownership.

I wonder.. count the number of pedestrians hurt, vs the number of car deaths. I'll take the broken arm over massive internal damage.

I suspect if you were given a choice: Get hit by a car doing 40, or a scooter doing 40, you'd pick the scooter.

Re: Paris votes to ban rental e-scooters

#317

Post by bluecalm »

franky47 wrote: post #185

One major annoyance with these e-scooters is their "take it from anywhere, leave it anywhere" rental model. Sure, it's practical for the user, but it litters the pavement for everyone else with scooters badly parked, sometimes even lying on their side on the floor, requiring teams of maintenance people to patrol the streets (with petrol trucks) and set them back up in an orderly fashion and grouped at strategic locat…

Wait till you see how parked cars litter sidewalks and streets. Every one of them takes as much space as tens of e-scooters as well. It's really annoying cars have that free-for-all start anywhere - leave it anywhere model.

Re: Paris votes to ban rental e-scooters

#318

Post by woodruffw »

bluescrn wrote: post #301
snakeboy wrote: post #297

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Paris and Berlin the alternatives are probably bikes, metro, or walking...

The 'Bicycles are fine but e-scooters are awful' argument comes up a lot, but doesn't make much sense. E-bikes are often ignored or just effectively invisible. (I'll agree that rental scooter services have unique problems, but we shouldn't allow personally-owned scooters to be banned along with them)

My read of the article is that it’s only about rental scooters. Personal scooters aren’t covered, and remain allowed.

Re: Paris votes to ban rental e-scooters

#319

Post by mrtksn »

Living in a major city which also has a buzz about banning scooters and scooters being banned in some more posh neighborhoods already, I have problem with this.

The problem is obviously not the existence of scooters but how people would pile them up or ride them carelessly on sidewalks. IMHO, the solution would be to create infrastructure and usage rules. Seize the scooters from those who do not comply. Eventually, either the scooters would stop causing problems or they will no longer exist.

Re: Paris votes to ban rental e-scooters

#320

Post by bluescrn »

woodruffw wrote: post #318
bluescrn wrote: post #301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The 'Bicycles are fine but e-scooters are awful' argument comes up a lot, but doesn't make much sense. E-bikes are often ignored or just effectively invisible. (I'll agree that rental scooter services have unique problems, but we shouldn't allow personally-owned scooters to be banned along with them)

My read of the article is that it’s only about rental scooters. Personal scooters aren’t covered, and remain allowed.

This is good.

In the UK, personal scooters are still illegal, and the problems with rental schemes seem to be being used to keep it that way :(

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