Transportation
Is Paris Ready for Electric Scooter Sharing?
LimeBike’s fleet arrives at an opportune time, with the full blessing of city hall—but cultural and logistical hurdles could still pose a challenge.
Is Europe about to catch the scooter-sharing bug? Companies renting out these little two-wheelers have been a huge, unexpectedly fast-growing phenomenon in North America, but dockless scooters remain very rare in Europe, with only a few cities testing out limited fleets. That changed on Friday, however, when LimeBike launched its scooter-share system in Paris.
With several hundred vehicles up for grabs, the company is certainly taking the new market seriously. But will a transit solution that’s performed well in American cities transplant well to a city like Paris, with its very different transit and street culture?