Parisians to vote on banning electric rental scooters

The wheels may be about to come off the French capital's experiment with for-hire electric scooters. The question City Hall will be asking on Sunday in a city-wide mini-referendum is: “For or against self-service scooters in Paris?" The answer could doom a leading market for the two-wheeled vehicles.

In the five years since their introduction, for-hire scooters have also built a following among Parisians who don't want or can't afford their own but like the option to escape the Metro and other public transport. But amid complaints that e-scooters are an eyesore and a traffic menace, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo and some of her deputies want to banish on safety, public nuisance and cost-benefit grounds before the capital hosts the Olympic Games next year.

Paris' contracts with the three rental companies - Dott, Lime and TIER - expire at the end of August. Whether for-hire scooters survive in Paris after that will depend on Sunday's poll.