Autolib’, it is finished. Small cars grey will disappear from the streets of Paris and 97 other municipalities in the Ile-de-France, leaving more than 100 000 regular users. The syndicat mixte Autolib’ Velib’ Metropolis decided, Thursday, June 21, to rescind the contract that linked him to Bolloré. The group asked the community a total of 233 million euros to cover the losses caused by twelve years of operation of its network, until 2023.
This does not mean the end of car-sharing, ensures the union : “many manufacturers, rental companies and start-ups” would be willing to expand car-sharing in Grand Paris with solutions that are ” more flexible, more capable and more scalable “. The future landscape of the electric car shared, for which Paris had become a champion thanks to Autolib’, remains yet very uncertain.
A return impossible ?
Despite the assurances initials of the head of the group, Vincent Bolloré, who promised to balance quickly the accounts from only 50 000 subscribers, the time horizon of the cost-effectiveness has not ceased to move, and the losses to widen. “The trap in which fell Autolib’, it is believe that the number of subscribers was the turnover, and that the increase in the number of users is sufficient to achieve profitability, analysis Nicolas Louvet, director of the office of studies 6t, which has conducted several surveys on the system, Autolib’. However, there were subscribers, the less each one was rentals on average. “The effect of discouraging vehicles less often available and regularly in poor condition has been aggravated by the progressive arrival of new actors, VTC (cars with driver) or scooter self-service.
Of the remainder, very few networks of shared cars manage to balance their accounts. Citiz, a network of twelve independent operators totaling $ 1-300…
