Parisians massively vote to banish for-hire e-scooters

Parisians have overwhelmingly voted to banish the French capital’s ubiquitous for-hire e-scooters from their streets, in a mini-referendum the mayor said sent a “very clear message.” The 15,000 opinion-dividing mini-machines could now vanish from central Paris at the end of August when contracts for the three operators expire. The question that City Hall asked in the citywide mini-referendum on Sunday was: “For or against self-service scooters in Paris?” The result wasn’t close at all. City Hall said on its website that 103,084 people participated and 89% of them voted against the e-scooters. Mayor Anne Hidalgo vowed to respect the outcome of the consultative referendum.