Covid-19 epidemic requires, Parisians had not seen them circulate (or so little) for more than a year.
Since this Thursday, they are back.
These double-decker buses, on two floors, usually delight many tourists, mostly foreigners, who take them to see the famous places of the capital.
But, for lack of visitors, they were very sparse on this day of recovery.
A situation which should obviously improve with the decrease in the circulation of the virus and the easing of travel arrangements, especially from the United States.
In any case at Tootbus Paris, we want to be happy and confident.
However, the day before, only 40 reservations had been made (excluding direct purchases made on the same day).
"We know that international tourists will come back, because Paris will remain Paris," explains Benoit Barraud, CEO of Tootbus, a subsidiary of RATP formerly called Open Tour Paris and the first operator to relaunch daily activity in the capital.
“On the other hand, we know how to adapt our strategies to reach a more local population directly”.
Tootbus has therefore had a facelift: a name change, “a 100% very low-emission fleet” (9 electric buses and 6 that run on biogas) and new thematic tours to try to attract more Ile-de-France residents and Parisians.