It's a morning like any other. Well, almost. Under the drizzle that falls on the capital this Friday, bicycles are now the only ones to use the bike paths. One or two scooters, here or there, still make their way. Didier, in his fifties, has his own machine. "I am always careful, helmet, fluorescent jacket, I stop at the lights," he says, standing on his machine, rue de Rivoli (Ier). I'm alone among the bikes now. »
The ballet of electric scooters ceased Thursday at midnight. The fleets operated by Dott, Lime and Tier were deactivated, as a result of the vote organized in the spring by the municipality. 89% of voters were against maintaining the 15,000 self-service electric scooters on the streets of Paris.
"I feel safer"
In the saddle on his bicycle, Romuald, a young Parisian worker, travels his daily journey between the Halles district and the seventeenth arrondissement. "I observe that it is less of a mess. At rush hour, between bikes and scooters, some users do anything. Without the scooters that slalom everywhere, turn without indicating their direction, I feel safer. »
On the Lime app, the small green dots in the shape of a scooter have disappeared from the Parisian map, giving way to more bikes. The skates "have left the city to new destinations," the operator tells its users, after "having crisscrossed the city since 2018 and traveled more than 87 million km".
One less "danger"?
Astrid, a former occasional user of free-floating scooters, regrets the disappearance of a service "ideal for short distances". On foot, on this autumn morning of September 1st, she says she "is not very comfortable cycling". "Walking is good too. I try to avoid the metro as much as possible, except when you have to cross the capital, "says the thirty-year-old.
See alsoEnd of self-service scooters in Paris, D-Day: users disillusioned, pedestrians are delighted
Yves, meanwhile, is about to get behind the wheel of his car, parked boulevard des Batignolles (seventeenth). "I ride every day in Paris and its suburbs. I admit that not paying attention to the hundreds of scooters on bike paths, which tumble on the road, it will certainly be a source of stress less. »