Paris, with its long-running public bike- and car-sharing schemes in disarray, will now see an invasion of several hundred electric scooters, available by the hour through an app. The service started last Friday.
Unlike the Velib bicycle and Autolib car programs, this one is a private operation with no government involvement—and apparently no permits, either. They belong to a U.S. company, Lime, which has rolled out similar schemes in a number of cities, with mixed results, including being banned from San Francisco.
Users, who pay €1 plus 15 cents per minute, locate scooters with the app and receive a code to take the scooter; it can be left anywhere in Paris. Company staff will locate them each night by GPS, and pick them up for recharging or repair in time for the morning.
Meanwhile, the long-running Velib program, which uses docked bicycles, is in a tailspin; it was taken over last year by a new, and inexperienced operator which has missed deadlines, been unable to provide power to keep its electric models charged, and has not kept up with repairs. The separate Autolib program is set to end soon; though well-loved, it has cost the city too much.
