Parisians are not good customers for car sharing; They trash everything! At least, that’s the version put forward by Zity to leave the capital…
In May 2020, Renault partnered withvs the Spanish Ferrovia to offer Zity, an electric vehicle car-sharing service, in Paris. The operator, Renault Mobilize (sole owner of Zity since the end of 2023), announces the end of this solution as of January 15 in the capital. The reason given: the indelicacy of Parisians, source of numerous degradations.
Zity runs out of battery after a flying start
Before hitting the streets of Paris, Zity enjoyed great success in another capital, Madrid. Initially, it was an armada made up of 500 100% electric Renault ZOEs with free access which invaded the roads of the City of Lights.
This contingent was subsequently reinforced by Dacia Spring. In 2022, Zity established itself in another French city, an ancient capital (that of the Gauls – but still that of gastronomy), Lyon.
Its operating principle is similar to other car-sharing services: you reserve one of the self-service vehicles from your smartphone and drive it for the time necessary for your journey.
On its site, Zity provides a standard rate starting from 21 euro cents per minute (which can however reach 41 cents) as well as various packages (49.99 euros for a day for example). Vehicle parking is free inside the Zity Zones.
Since its launch, the service has managed to attract 100,000 registered customers.
Parisians, sagouins!
From January 15, Zity will cease its activity in Paris as well as in the municipalities where its 100% electric coaches (to use the company’s expression) ventured: Boulogne-Billancourt, Issy-les-Moulineaux and Vanves.
The reason given? Significant damage to vehicles, which would result in excessively high maintenance costs.
A manager spoke to AFP in these terms: “The significant and repeated damage to our vehicles in Paris very often made them unavailable and generated maintenance costs that became unmanageable”. And to add: “In other cities, things are going very well. The damage is not at the level of that of Paris”.
Comments which echo others made in 2021, this time by a Renault manager. She pointed out the misuse of vehicles made in the Paris region, with Zoe ingenues transformed into places of debauchery.
Degraded service and abandoned vehicles according to customers
On the customer side, the story is logically different. Users are thus raising the gradual replacement of Renault Zoé by Dacia Spring, which is less qualitative.
More generally, they point out the deterioration of the offer, with dirty vehicles, presenting various malfunctions (lights on the dashboard, absence of windshield washer fluid, etc.), and more patched up than actually maintained; customer service for absent subscribers and ever-increasing usage costs (with a maximum rate per minute of 41 cents compared to 25 cents at the start).
The experience would have really started to deteriorate during the summer of 2023, with the abandonment of several districts of Paris by Zity, as well as Clichy-la-Garenne. In addition, around this time, the service had begun to drastically reduce its vehicle fleet, reducing it from 400 to 250 cars in the space of a few weeks (Zity’s overall fleet included 1,440 vehicles in 2023).
Everyone is free to determine the culprit in this affair and to adhere, or not, to Zity’s intrinsically somewhat inept generalization, which is perhaps put forward to hide other motivations. One thing is certain: the Mobilize car-sharing service will no longer be available from Monday January 15 in the capital. Parisians who are fans of this car consumption will have to turn to other solutions such as Free2Move, SHARE NOW or even Ubeeqo.
On the other hand, Zity still runs in Lyon. Parisian customers will also be able to use their remaining credit in this city, as well as in Madrid and Milan, or simply request a refund. As for the vehicles, they will be repatriated to other less dangerous cities…
Sources: The Parisian, BFM
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