Marseille no longer rules out the possibility of withdrawing the 6,000 self-service electric scooters from its city. A decisive meeting will take place next Monday with the operators.
These days, it is not good to be an operator of self-service scooters in France. While part of the mayor of Paris wants to exclude them from the capital, having finally decided to rely on Parisians and Parisians in the context of a local ax referendum which will take place on April 2, Marseille is sulking small electric vehicles. Tired of the sometimes considered anarchic parking of scooters, the Marseille municipality does not rule out stopping everything.
Marseille hesitates to stop everything
On February 13, next Monday, a very important meeting will take place in Marseille between the town hall and the operators to decide on the future, whatever its outcome, of the self-service electric scooters of the Marseille city.
Since 2019, Lime, Voi and Bird (formerly Circ) have each operated 2,000 scooters in Marseille, for a total of 6,000 machines distributed throughout the city. Except that over time, scooters have increased their bad reputation with pedestrians, cyclists and others who no longer support their crowding, sometimes in front of strategic access points, pedestrian crossings, even in the Old Port, and the discomfort that they provoke.
If the sometimes “messy” parking (you will excuse the term) of these scooters is as much due to the bad behavior of some of its undisciplined users as to the operators’ lack of control over their fleet, the town hall is very clear. ” Whether [les opérateurs] are unable to regulate their fleet and are unable to provide a suitable service to the city of Marseille (…), there is this extremity there which is to say we stop everything. We are ready to stop everything if we ever feel that there is no improvement. These are the words of the deputy mayor in charge of mobility Audrey Gatian to our colleagues from BFM Marseille-Provence.
Numerous and recurring security problems
In other words, the municipality is putting pressure on the operators to push them to find solutions by February 13. The town hall seems ready to make such a decision, especially since the town councilor, Benoît Payan, had promised in his vows a ” important announcement next, precisely about the famous self-service scooters.
While electric vehicles have real utility, particularly for users who do not have immediate access to public transport or who do not have the means (nor the desire) to buy a car, the problems of security that they engender are today too important for the situation not to change. And the game may not be worth the candle.
Operators say for their part that they are doing everything possible to fight against the annoying parking of their devices or to prevent the use of pirated credit cards, which are more and more frequent to unlock a scooter.
What is the best electric scooter for you? These mobility devices (EDPM) are on the rise in several regions of France. And for good reason, their agility, their autonomy and their growing power make it possible to move easily and more freely than with public transport, for example. However, to be satisfied with the daily experience, you still have to choose your model carefully.
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Source : BFM Marseille-Provence
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