Shared electric scooters: Dott, Lime, and Tier are charging the city of Paris

Two months before the vote on whether to keep or ban free-floating scooters, operators criticize the city of Paris for not playing fair.

On April 2nd, a referendum will be held in Paris to ask residents if they want to keep the free-floating scooters in their city. As the vote approaches rapidly, operators present in the capital complain about the city hall’s silence, even questioning the “sincerity” of the referendum.

More than fraud, Dott, Tier, and Lime fear that Anne Hidalgo’s teams, openly hostile to scooters, are secretly trying to sway the vote. According to them, the municipality should have, in the interest of fairness, allowed them to present their arguments to Parisians. They also fear that the wording of the question has been deliberately chosen to influence the vote against them. Instead of “stop” or “continue,” they would prefer “ban” or “better regulate.”

Scooter operators want answers quickly

The three operators also made two other requests: the organization of a digital vote, and approval for residents registered on the lists as of March 31, 2023, to vote. While waiting for a response from David Belliard before the end of the month, they still do not know if their demands have been heard. It is precisely this silence from the city hall that prompted them to speak out jointly, through a statement published on February 6.

“To date, the voting procedures have not been clearly and publicly announced. The lack of concrete responses from the Paris City Hall raises concerns about the organization of an impartial and fair vote, whose results would be, in fact, irrevocable,” explain the three companies. We, Dott, Lime, and Tier, publicly and solemnly call on the City of Paris to announce the details of the vote this week so that it is inclusive, with a neutral and contradictory process.”

Also read: The end of free-floating scooters in Marseille too?