France’s Boomers have a lot to answer for

Paris has banned e-scooters after the people were asked to vote in a referendum. Not many of the capital’s 1.38 million registered citizens bothered to cast their ballot on Sunday, but of the 103,000 who did 90 per cent voted against.  

The Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo hailed the referendum as a red letter day for ‘participative democracy’ over ‘democracy of public opinion and polls’. The city’s three e-scooter operators – Dott, Lime and Tier – quickly cried foul, citing what they described as ‘very restrictive voting methods’; only 21 voting stations were open, and there was no internet voting.

‘This led to an extremely low turnout, heavily skewed towards older age groups, which has widened the gap between pros and cons,’ said the operators. ‘The result of this vote will have a direct impact on the travel of 400,000 people per month, 71 per cent of whom are 18-35 year old residents.