E-scooters and bike-sharing docks are now amongst the many things tourists can see on the streets of Paris. According to city officials, there are about 15,000 free-floating modes of transportation in Paris. Now, the city is looking to tax operators like Lime and Bird.
“If these new modes of mobility are of interest – less pollution, non-noisy – they are not without posing real difficulties,” the Paris City Council said on its website.
There are 40,000 more vehicles set to arrive in the city and Paris officials are gearing up to push legislation that will solidify the tax on scooter and bike-sharing companies.
“The rise of cycling in the capital is a key issue for sustainable mobility, but it can not be done at the expense of sharing the harmonious public space,” Paris City Council said in another post.
Paris is also set to create new legislation around parking e-scooters. The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, is currently pressuring the Prime Minister to create new regulations on the scooters, while the city is currently deploying parking lots for the scooters as a way to protect pedestrians on sidewalks.
Free-floating scooters and bikes have been an issue for Paris officials for quite some time. In August, the City Council highlighted issues and benefits with free-floating scooters and docked biking stations. The Council said that docked stations would merit tariffs and territorial network that meets public service requirements.
The Council warned that dockless bikes could cause crowding in public spaces.
“From this point of view, it is indeed imperative to ensure the comfort of pedestrians and in particular to fight against the clutter sidewalks,” the Paris City Council said in its August post. “Cycling, in general, should not be an obstacle, let alone a danger. ”
As of yet, there are no city taxes on e-scooters and bike-shares in the United States; however, Trump Administration tariffs on the Chinese government had adverse impacts on the booming e-scooter industry back in August.
It seems like Bike and Lime have recovered considering companies like Lyft and Uber have looked to acquire them in recent months. There have been no updates on the talks since Lyft and Uber have moved closer to their IPOs.
