Le Figaro Nice
More, better quality self-service bikes in more cities, but not at any price.
The private companies “Lime” and “Pony”, which will deploy their fleet of 2,000 two-wheelers from February 20 in the metropolis of Nice (Alpes-Maritimes), i.e. 800 more than before, revealed their pricing this week .
Aligning with their respective deployments in other large cities, like Marseille or Angers, they will apply approximately the same prices in the twelve municipalities of the Côte d'Azur.
But they turn out to be much higher than those of the previous operator in the Nice metropolis, “Vélobleu”.
Questioned on the subject on January 22, President-Mayor Christian Estrosi boasted that the prices would be
“more or less”
the same.
Discussions were still ongoing at that time.
The account is ultimately not completely fair, even if the community will save 3.8 million euros per year.
The two companies, which will share the market in half, will offer rental unlocking at 1 euro and set the minute of use at 0.23 cents for “Lime” and 0.19 cents for “Pony”.
At the time of the old operator, the first half hour was free and a day's rental cost 1.50 euros for manual and 4 euros for electric, according to the brochures.
Read also: Banking on electric, the metropolis of Nice is betting on “Lime” and “Pony” self-service bicycles
Subscriptions
Even if the service was considered outdated, the difference is even more striking regarding subscriptions.
Where you only had to pay 25 euros per year for bicycles at the terminals, and 80 euros for those with assistance, you will now have to pay 31.99 euros per month to benefit from bicycles from the American giant “Lime” and 39 euros for those from the French start-up, which will nevertheless offer a 20% reduction to public transport subscribers, falling to 29 euros per month.
“Lime” and “Pony” present other packages: 3.60 euros per day (for 30 minutes), 7.99 euros for three days (and 60 minutes of use) or even per week for 22.99 euros (200 minutes) for the American company.
The Angevin company offers 9 euros for the day, 19 euros per week for unlimited journeys.
Wherever it is established, the start-up also offers users the option of purchasing the bike and gradually recovering 50% of the rental profits.
An innovative economic model.
When asked, the Nice metropolis and its deputy for Transport did not wish to defend these new prices in relation to the chosen service.
The “Nice à Vélo” association, which has around 250 members, explains that it has received feedback from cyclists worried about these new prices.
“Certainly, there will be more bicycles, particularly in hilly areas, but in terms of price, it is a disengagement from the metropolis, it is no longer a public service,”
laments Daniel Sottile, the president.
For him, these bikes will be intended more for
“another more tourist use”
.
250 zones for self-service two-wheelers will be designed throughout the territory, including 155 in Nice, which has 230 kilometers of cycle paths.
“Lime” and “Pony” have promised to be “
drastic
” regarding parking thanks to geolocation systems, an important criterion for the metropolis of Nice.