There will be fewer of them on the sidewalks. The mayor of Marseille Benoît Payan announced on Monday the withdrawal of 1,500 self-service electric scooters in the city, or 37.5% of the fleet, because “it’s almost anything”, according to the councilor who denounces the poor regulation of operators.
“Just about anything”
“There are 4,000 scooters in Marseille and I decided to remove 1,500 of them immediately, quickly. For what ? Because in fact it’s just about anything, it’s poorly regulated, I asked the operators to do drastic things I see that sometimes they dragged their feet”, annoyed the mayor at the head of Printemps marseillais (left-wing union) on the radio France Blue Provence.
“If I had as many metro lines as in Paris, I would tell you this morning I’m taking the scooters off,” he added, knowing that there are only two metro lines in the second. city in France. At the beginning of September, Paris is the first European capital to have banned them following a popular vote. Benoît Payan, who threatens to go further, also asks operators to deploy a third of the scooters in non-central districts, in a city much larger than Paris, and to respect legal obligations.
Since the beginning of September, the minimum age for driving an electric scooter has increased from 12 to 14 years and the fines have increased from 35 to 135 euros to penalize driving two people on the same scooter or on prohibited routes.