Harmonizing dockless E-scooters: insights from Paris

• We investigate the effects of designated parking bays for e-scooters in Paris. • We develop a novel multicriteria evaluation method using the location of e-scooters. • Regulations mitigate cluttering, but they unintentionally reduce accessibility. • Congestion of parking bays skyrocketed just after the construction of parking bays. • Users that never followed the rules constitute up to 18% of riders. Improper parking is one of the most significant barriers to the adoption and acceptance of dockless shared e-scooters worldwide. This paper investigates the effects of mandatory parking regulations in Paris that require e-scooters to be parked in designated bays in the form of painted corrals. To assess the impact of these regulations and their unintended effects, we develop a novel multicriteria evaluation method around three principles: efficiency, accessibility, and compliance. Using a unique large-scale database that geolocates every parked e-scooter in the city at three-hour intervals, we find that designated parking bays improve mis-parking by reducing cluttering. However, they also unintentionally reduce accessibility. Furthermore, we provide insights into the persistence of mis-parking and the congestion of parking bays, two key factors that contributed to the ban of shared e-scooters in the city.