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Electric scooters launch in Paris, to spread in Europe
PARIS, June 21, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – The boulevards of Paris, already bustling
with a dizzying range of transport devices, are set to feature a new shared
electric scooter system that has swept the US and is now heading for Europe.
California-based Lime launched a pilot scheme for the two-wheeled powered
scooters on Thursday in several districts of the French capital and will roll
them out across the city.
“Very quickly our fleet will grow to respond to demand,” Lime’s director
for France, Arthur-Louis Jacquier, told AFP.
The US start-up, which already operates bike-sharing schemes in Berlin and
Frankfurt, has big ambitions in Europe as it competes with other fast-
expanding American rivals such as Bird.
The new e-scooters arrive as Paris faces problems with two of its flagship
transport innovations over the last decade which forged the city’s reputation
as a pioneer for new forms of commuting.
The city’s bike-sharing scheme Velib’, launched in 2007 and since copied
around the world, is in disarray after a change of contractor led to major
problems and a shortage of bikes.
An electric car-sharing system known as Autolib, launched in 2011, could be
at the end of the road after it ran up major losses that neither local
authorities, nor private operator Bollore are prepared to absorb.
– Car service sputters –
The public body that oversees the car system is set to meet on Thursday and
could vote to cancel the contract with Bollore, which would leave its 150,000
users in the lurch.
Paris city authorities estimate the loss incurred from cancelling the deal
at “several tens of millions of euros” while Bollore, owned by French magnate
Vincent Bollore, expects it to be up to 300 million.
Autolib was never adopted by Parisians in the way they took to the shared
bikes, meaning that the number of subscribers was lower than expected while
new taxi apps such as Uber undercut it on cost.
Lime and other private operators of new transport-sharing solutions are
looking to capitalise on the problems with Velib’ and Autolib’, which are
both backed by public money.
Chinese bike-sharing groups such as GoBee and Ofo as well as Singapore’s
Obike have piled into the French market, adding to the ever-expanding range
of options available to commuters and travellers.
They have also added to congestion on pavements and led to criticism from
pedestrians who must often weave around bikes that have been badly parked or
scattered on streets.
As well as pedal-bikes, electric bikes, electric mopeds, motorbikes and
cars and buses, Paris’ streets are also awash with skateboards, scooters and
increasing numbers of battery-operated unicycles.
Complaints about electric scooters have mounted in US cities such as San
Francisco where dangerous driving and competition for space with pedestrians
and drivers has caused tension.
The Lime scooters in Paris will have a top speed of 24 kilometres an hour
(15 miles an hour) and are able to travel 50 kilometres on a single charge.
All the vehicles, which have a GPS and can be reserved using a mobile phone
app, will be collected each evening by Lime and recharged.
They will not be allowed on pavements, the company said, adding that prices
are a minimum one euro per hire, then 15 centimes a minute.
BSS/AFP/ARS/1808 hrs