Hi everyone

Has anyone done this yet? What is the method - I assume there is an app?

Thanks

I don't know about the process but, since you must ride in the street, you should be sure you really want to do this.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-f...-idUSKCN1RF29V

Illegal on the pavement so enjoy the road.

< the French capital’s council voted to impose a 135 euro ($155) fine for riding on the sidewalk and a 35 euro fine for blocking the sidewalk with parked scooters >

​​​​​​We were in Paris last week and I was stunned to see the scooters left everywhere on the sidewalks and in very random places. How do they know who was using
the scooter? Can the app be checked to see who it was?

There are 10 different operators, so there are ten different apps. Lime, Bolt, Bird, Wind, Tier, Flash, Hive, Voi, Dott, Jump.
With those names, Google will be your friend, but I will address the subject of Lime, which was the first company to arrive. It costs one euro to start and then 0.15€ per minute of use. You have to credit your account for a minimum of 10 euros. 20 or 50 euros are other possible amounts. 15 minutes of use will cost you 3.25€, half an hour will cost you 5.50€. Once you have credited your account and found a scooter that you want to use, you scan the QR code on the handlebar. Once you have finished, you leave the scooter in a suitable place and terminate your use on the app. If you leave it somewhere bad, of course you will be subject to any fines that the city wants to apply. As already pointed out, it is now forbidden to ride on the sidewalk. You must use the bike lanes or the street or face the fine of 135 euros.

No, I have never used one of these since I am a Vélib user. I just got the other information from the internet.

BYO helmet? I can't imagine wanting to bring one and certainly wouldn't ride in the street without it.

They are not obligatory for adults, and children appear to be banned by most of the apps.

I'm an occasional user of these vehicles. You do have to ride on the road, not on the pavement : I would not call it safe (I'm a seasoned urban biker and I find these scooters much scarier) and it is very uncomfortable on cobblestones. Only recommended for short hops when you're in a hurry. Can also be fun in protected areas such as the Seine banks. Main worry is not the fines (I question the ability to enforce them) but your personal safety.

Or how about how obnoxious they are? Isn't that a worry? These are littered all over the streets where I live with people leaving them anywhere, blocking sidewalks and they are also an eyesore. At least one man has been killed riding one where I live, and another woman rider seriously injured because the brakes failed on one and she was in traffic (that was Bird).

A lot of people riding them are just lazy, they just don't want to walk a short distance, or take public transportation, they'd rather be dangerous and contribute to traffic and pedestrian problems and clutter up the streets and parks. They break traffic laws also, all the time, including riding on the sidewalks where they aren't allowed to in my city. I was almsot run into by some a couple weeks ago when I was visiting a museum in DC, as they were riding on the sidewalks in areas where they aren't allowed to, and also they just do this for "fun" often, you can easily walk between museums and I could tell these were just tourists.

IN theory, you can track people obviously by the app, the company knows who rented it and where they left it. But I think you misunderstand the fines. The fines go to the company for the illegally parked ones. They can be picked up and the company (Lime, Bird, etc) fined for that. People are fined when caught riding illegally where they aren't allowed to. If I were one of those companies, I supposed I'd start including legal terms that if the company is fined by a scooter yu left somewhere (as they can track who last had it), they can pass the cost on to you.

When I was in Paris last month, I was amazed by the numbers of these scooters (trottinettes electriques) that were zipping around everywhere, including on sidewalks, and going the wrong way on one-way streets. Just saw a newsletter from the city of Paris regarding regulations for their use, stating that there are now nearly 15,000 of them and projecting that there could be 40,000 by the end of the year. Users are supposed to be 18 or over, although many riders I saw looked much younger. Also saw more than a few riding as a couple on one scooter which is not allowed. A taxi driver told us that he had seen two accidents involving serious injury to scooter riders in the past few days. So pedestrians, watch out, especially when crossing the street, since many riders don't think the traffic lights apply to them. Oh well, at least they don't make any noise.

https://www.paris.fr/actualites/le-s...mporte-ou-6745

MaineGG's post describes why so many cities and towns in California (where this idea started) have banned the scooters. The companies disregard local laws as they launch, and then the users act like jerks and idiots. File under 'another idea that sounds great on paper.'

Thank you everyone

I haven't actually even rented them here at home, I was just thinking it might be fun to zip around one while there but it sounds like a huge hassle. I have a Paris by Velib book and I thought, why not by scooter? Thank you for the info.

I was just there in August and don't recall the scooters al over, will be interesting to see how it seems this time.

I'm in Paris now and yes they are "all over" and sometimes on sidewalks but usually ridden in traffic from what I have seen.

Recently, I counted 37 scooters parked or abandoned all over the intersection where I live, at 8am. I see the vans depositing 5 or 10 of them very often, because they do excellent business in outer Paris, just like Vélib. Everybody (well, those young everybodies) wants to ride to the center of Paris, which is mostly downhill and super easy. They rarely come back the same way, so the "collectors" bring them back.