Paris will ban electric scooters from September 1st, as announced by the mayor of the French capital after citizens voted to remove them from the city’s streets. However, the management and rental companies of the electric skates today expressed hope to reverse this plan.

The proposal to ban electric scooters won 89% of the vote, according to the city’s Twitter account in a process described as a rare “public consultation” and caused long lines outside polling stations set up across the city.

However, turnout in the referendum was low at 7.46% of registered voters.

The capital’s mayor, Anne Hidalgo, said she would respect the result of the vote.

“From September 1, there will no longer be electric skates for rent in Paris,” he said late last night at a press conference.

Skate rental companies pointed to the low turnout and hoped the mayor would seek a compromise.

“We remain optimistic that we can continue to work with Mayor Hidalgo to adopt sensible regulations instead of a ban on electric skates and avoid the backsliding of Paris,” a Lime company representative said today.

Another spokesman, from the company Dott, said the referendum “it is closely influenced by very restrictive voting methods“, which led to very little participation and particularly one-sided regarding the older age groups.

French Transport Minister Clement Bonn, who is seen as a possible contender for the capital’s mayoralty in 2026, told BFM television that the vote was a “massive failure of democracy”.

The electric scooters, which operate via a mobile phone app, have been on the streets of Paris since 2018, but after complaints of unruly use, Paris reduced the number of rental companies to three in 2020.

He gave them a three-year contract, required the skates not to exceed a maximum speed of 20 km/h and imposed specific parking areas for them, similar to what happens in other cities worldwide. These contracts expire in September.

The companies had also proposed further regulations, such as screening users to be over 18, limiting them to one passenger and putting up license plates so police can identify offenders.

In 2021, 24 people were killed in accidents related to their use across the country, including one in Paris. Last year the capital recorded 459 accidents and incidents involving electric scooters and similar vehicles, three of which were fatal.