BRDS - Paris votes to ban e-scooters possibly setting precedent

2023-04-03 07:30:22 ET

Over the weekend, a referendum on the use of e-scooters in the French Capital received a whopping 90% vote to ban the products from Paris’ streets.

“Thank you to the more than 100,000 Parisians who spoke, it's a great victory for local democracy,” Mayor Anne Hidalgo said on Sunday. “Parisians have overwhelmingly spoken out against self-service scooters, we will put an end to it by September 1st.”

The city had previously been a success story for firms like Neutron Holdings, which manufacturers Lime scooters, Dutch scooter company Dott, and Berlin-based Tier. The ban marks the first full-city ban for the micro-mobility companies, though other capitals such as Prague and Madrid have restricted the products in certain districts with high levels of foot-traffic.

The companies impacted by the ban lamented the results of the referendum in press statements, highlighting low voter turnout.

“With approximately 93% of citizens not going to the polls, a large majority of Parisians have shown that e-scooters are not an issue,” Tier said. “With a presence in more than 560 cities and communities in 31 countries, we know that the decision of Paris goes against the global trend, which sees countries and cities around the world embracing low carbon micro-mobility.”

Miami-based Bird Global ( NYSE: BRDS ) is also a player in the European market, touting exposure to 150 cities throughout Europe among its 350-city global footprint in a recent press release. Shares of Bird Global slipped 1.71% in premarket trading.

Read more on the company’s recent indication of continued expansion plans .

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