The self-service scooter market | France

1.1 Definition and scope of the study

The self-service or free-floating scootermarket concerns the urban mobility service offered by electric scootersin recent years, the market for micro-mobility (up to 6 km of travel distance) - which includes the market for scooters - has grown which includes self-service scooters - has seen the use of personal mobility devices (PMDs) become more widespread and amplified after the health crisis in particular.

Free-floating scooters are available for rent and can be used/dropped off at their convenience. This service is made available and is operable via the use of a mobile application and a QR Code allowing the unlocking of the scooter. As far as the French market is concerned, the service costs a pre-announced price that corresponds to a rate per minute traveled.

This ease of use has made it a huge success and thus in 2018 a multiplicity of players have invested the market offering an equivalent service and thus being able to differentiate themselves only by the price offered to users. The hypercompetitiveness of the price has led to the exit of many players from the market, as they were unable to generate profit and intensified the phenomenon of concentration. Today, only a few players have managed to stay on this market, such as Lime, Dott or Tier (the only players still existing in Paris, while they were 12 in 2018). Thus, following a phase of anarchic development, the self-service electric scooter market is regulating itself and could reach 25 to 30 billion dollars on the European and American markets alone, according to the consulting firm BCG.

in addition to this ultra-competitive scheme, there is an ever-increasing amount of regulation to control the practice and protect users. For example, in November 2022, the Paris City Council is threatening not to renew the contracts of the three operators if they do not implement a number of measures.