Leading European cities for e-scooter ridership in Q1 2023

In the first quarter of 2023, the European cities with the highest number of shared e-scooter rides included the German cities Berlin and Hamburg and the French capital, Paris. Berlin was the European leader in e-scooter ridership, with 3.1 million trips recorded in the year's first three months. Paris and Hamburg followed with respectively 2.8 and 2.2 million trips.

The end of e-scooters in Paris

While Paris had 32 electric scooters per 10,000 inhabitants in 2022, these are slated to disappear from Parisian streets by the end of 2023. In April 2023, Paris held a referendum on the continuation of e-scooter sharing in the city, in which over 90 percent of voters expressed their opposition to the vehicles. Despite a relatively low turnout, the city has announced that it will follow the referendum's outcome and ban e-scooter schemes from city streets from September 2023. This ban will apply to shared e-scooter schemes, while private e-scooters will remain legal. The free-floating scooters had been criticized for littering and blocking pavements, and their safety for riders had been questioned.

Uncertain future for e-scooters

Paris is not the only city experiencing a backlash to e-scooters. Other cities, including Copenhagen, Barcelona, and Riga, have already temporarily banned or significantly restricted e-scooters. Meanwhile, the vehicles are still in the trial stage in the United Kingdom, where private e-scooters remain illegal so far, and only a few cities have shared e-scooter schemes that will be up for review. While there is public criticism of e-scooters in Germany, micro-mobility vehicles make up a large proportion of the share vehicle fleet in the country, and the market is projected to grow further in the coming years.