Paris clamps down on scooter startups

When electric scooters came out, I was pretty excited about them. A great last-mile option for public transport.

But when I was in Paris a few weeks ago, my enthusiasm was tampered. I didn’t see a single example of a scooter being used for “transportation”. Instead, they were typically rented by tourists looking to turn the streets of Paris into an amusement park. As a pedestrian, I was constantly looking over my shoulder, worried I was going to get plowed from behind by someone doing slalom through humans. And it was pretty clear many of these scooter operators were not very experienced.

I’m glad Paris is addressing it - one of the charms of that city is wandering around on foot and exploring. Spending the entire time making sure you don’t get run over by a scooter ruins that experience.