PARIS — Parisians have overwhelmingly voted to banish the French capital’s ubiquitous for-hire e-scooters from their streets, in a mini-referendum the mayor stated despatched a “very clear message.”

The 15,000 opinion-dividing mini-machines might now vanish from central Paris on the finish of August when the town’s contracts with the three operators expire.

The query that Metropolis Corridor requested voters in its citywide mini-referendum on Sunday was: “For or towards self-service scooters in Paris?”

The end result wasn’t shut. Metropolis Corridor stated on its web site about 103,000 folks voted, with 89% rejecting e-scooters and simply 11% supporting them.

Turnout was very low. The vote had been open to all of Paris’ 1.38 million registered voters.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo hailed the vote as a hit and repeated her vow to respect the result of the consultative referendum.

The voters’ “very clear message now turns into our information,” she stated. “With my crew, we’ll observe up on their determination as I had pledged.”

Scattered round Paris, straightforward to find and rent with a downloadable app and comparatively low-cost, the scooters are successful with vacationers who love their velocity and the help-yourself freedom they provide.

Within the 5 years since their introduction, following within the wake of shared automobiles and shared bicycles, for-hire scooters have additionally constructed a following amongst some Parisians who don’t need or can’t afford their very own however like the choice to flee the Metro and different public transport.

However many Parisians complain that e-scooters are an eyesore and a visitors menace, and the micro-vehicles have been concerned in a whole bunch of accidents.

Hidalgo and a few of her deputies campaigned to banish the “free floating” rental flotilla — so referred to as as a result of scooters are picked up and dropped off round city at their renters’ whim — on security, public nuisance and environmental cost-benefit grounds earlier than the capital hosts the Olympic Video games subsequent 12 months.