Scooters are not welcome. At a time when self-service electric vehicles are making a place for themselves in the landscape of soft mobility in the greater suburbs, Saint-Germain-en-Laye (Yvelines) refuses to receive Tier Mobility stations, even though they are located within of the Saint-Germain – Boucles de Seine agglomeration (CASGBS) since spring 2022.
A position that differs from the ambient discourse. And which is fully assumed by the municipality of the third city of Yvelines, as was the decision, a few months ago, to maintain public lighting when the vast majority of municipalities turned down the switch for reasons of energy saving.
“A gadget” according to the mayor
Arnaud Péricard, the mayor (Horizons) of the birthplace of Louis XIV, does not beat around the bush when we talk about the question of self-service vehicles. “A gadget,” he calls the entry. “In Saint-Germain, it’s useless,” he explains. Besides, no one made the request.” The reason according to him: “a high rate of individual equipment” coupled with a “significant network of public transport”.
For the elected official, “the real issue is the sharing of public space. It’s about knowing how to make different uses coexist. However, the complexity of the city means that we cannot do just anything there.”
The equation is presented as “already complex” in Saint-Germain. No need, in the mayor’s mind, to add an unknown to the tunes of “Canada Dry”. “It gives an impression of modernity but it’s only an impression,” he says. This is one of the things that we thought would contribute to the evolution of soft mobility. Let me put things into perspective. And the first form of gentle mobility remains walking. »
“No question of seeing 50 scooters crowded in front of the castle”
The other reason mentioned by Arnaud Péricard has to do with pure aesthetics. For him, “there is no question of seeing 50 scooters crowded in front of the castle”. On this point, the chosen one is easily agreed. “We saw the disaster in Paris,” reacts, for example, Jean-Michel after leaving his walk in the alleys of the national domain. We could no longer walk on the sidewalks. I don’t want to see that here. » “People do whatever, drive whatever,” adds Denise, who accompanies him. Everything is lying on the ground, everything is ruined very quickly. »
Few voices, in front of the RER station, are finally raised to defend the turquoise scooters. “It could be practical for high school students,” however, believes Delphine, mother of three children, including “a big one” who is now in second grade at the Jeanne-d’Albret high school. Or just a few steps from the “terminus” located at Place Royale, on a sidewalk in the neighboring town of Pecq, which is part of the system. “To choose, I still prefer to find out on the bus or in the RER,” the mother quickly adds.
The operator Tier Mobility delighted with its first year of operation in the metropolitan area
At Tier Mobility, we obviously regret the city’s position, but without making a specific comment. “This decision is up to elected officials but we hope that the exemplary nature of our service will convince them,” we explain simply.
The company, which has significantly expanded its network in recent months in Yvelines, says it is at the same time “delighted” with the results of its first year of presence in the Saint-Germain – Boucles de Seine region. “The figures are very good,” we assure you. The system works well and the service has really met its audience. »
The Vésinet-Le Pecq station is one of the “top stations” identified by Tier Mobility.
In May 2022, a fleet of 500 bicycles and 300 electric bicycles had been deployed in 14 of the 19 towns in the metropolitan area, including Sartrouville, Houilles, Chatou and Bezons (Val-d’Oise). In one year, nearly 30,000 unique users were recorded for 420,000 journeys made. That’s almost a thousand per day with an average of 1.6 km traveled.
“More than 34% of journeys are made during peak hours”, specifies Tier Mobility while emphasizing “almost zero accidents”, of the order of 0.003% of journeys. The experiment also allowed the operator to determine the “top stations” of the perimeter. These are the RER stations of Houilles-Carrières, Vésinet-Le Pecq and Chatou-Croissy, all located on line A.
#Yvelines #SaintGermainenLaye #selfservice #bicycles #scooters
