Sawt Falasteen - France increases age limit, fines for e-scooters

The government unveiled a new regulatory plan for e-scooters on Wednesday increasing the age limit as well as hiking fines for riding on them with another person from 35 euros to 135 ($150).

"The explosion in use (of scooters) has come with an increase in the number of accidents. It's a cause for worry," Transport Minister Clement Beaune told a press conference, adding that one in five accidents in Paris involved two people sharing an e-scooter.

The new rules will cover all scooters -- privately owned and free-floating ones for rent via apps such as Lime, Dott or Tier which are now available in more than 200 towns across France, Beaune said.

Parisians are to be asked on Sunday to vote in a referendum organised by city authorities on whether to ban free-floating e-scooters.

Fans view them as a fun, affordable and emissions-free mode of transport, while critics say they are dangerous, often driven badly, and clutter up the capital's already crowded streets.

Lower speed limits and dedicated parking zones have already been introduced in a bid to address complaints by other road users and pedestrians.

- 'Dumbed down the debate' -

Beaune, an ally of centrist President Emmanuel Macron and an outspoken critic of Socialist Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo, favours tighter regulation for scooters rather than an outright ban.

"It's an important consultation (on Sunday) that will be watched by a lot of other towns in France and overseas," Beaune told the Europe 1 radio station. "I find it a shame that we have caricatured and dumbed down the debate.

"Instead of having it as 'for' or 'against', we could do 'for, with rules'," he added.

Free-floating scooter operators signed a charter on Wednesday as part of Beaune's regulation plan that commits them to working on safety improvements, extending the life of batteries to at least five years, and recycling their products in France.

"We're still a young industry which is calling for more regulation," Erwann Le Page from Berlin-based Tier told AFP. "We know that everything isn't perfect, that there are things to improve... We need to be able to convince non-users that we have a role to play in cities."

- Pioneer no more? -

Beaune expects voters in Paris to ban the rental devices, while operators are also privately fearful of a negative result.

Unless they can mobilise their mostly young users to turn out at ballot stations around the capital, voting is set to be dominated by older citizens and those with strong personal reasons for outlawing the devices.

"Paris is going against the current," Hadi Karam, general manager for Lime in France, told AFP, citing decisions to expand the number of e-scooters or extend contracts in Washington, Madrid or London.

"There's a trend towards these vehicles and this trend started in Paris which was a pioneer (in adopting them)," he added. "Today everyone else is convinced and Paris is deciding to make a step in the other direction. It's incomprehensible for us."

B.Mahmoud--SF-PST