Only two actors left in Paris. And the Olympic Games are fast approaching. Since the takeover of Cityscoot by the Spanish Cooltra a little less than a month ago, the mobility of self-service scooters in the capital no longer relies solely on Yego and Cooltra. The two competitors have already started to recover the 60% market share that Cityscoot had.
With this objective in mind, the two competitors, present in 9 cities in Europe, are working hard to increase their fleet. A dynamic that makes Benjamin Viguier, CEO of Yego, “optimistic” about their ability to respond to the increase in demand expected during the Olympic Games. At Cooltra, same story. Fabien Douay, France director of the European leader in the number of scooters (10,000 in Europe), also says he is confident in the support of “free-floating” enthusiasts during the event.
Read alsoCityscoot saved by its competitor Cooltra, around a hundred positions eliminated
A reinforced fleet before the Olympics
Historically, Yego and Cooltra each captured 20% of market users. Since the takeover of the former leader for 400,000 euros, Cooltra has been able to recover the data of Cityscoot users, whose journey credits have been directly transferred to a Cooltra user account. Enough to propel the latter to 65% market share. Yego still took advantage of the upheaval caused by the disappearance of Cityscoot: it would now be at 35% according to its competitor.
However, will they be able to cope with the 15 million visitors expected during the Olympic Games? The two operators are banking on a reinforced strike force. Yego intends to “double” its fleet by April to reach 2,000 two-wheelers on the streets of the capital. With 1,500 vehicles to date, Cooltra is aiming for 2,000 to 2,400 vehicles flanked by Cooltra-Cityscoot stickers in the coming months.
His boss Fabien Douay is confident. So much so that for the moment he considers it pointless to seek to exploit the license held by Cityscoot in addition to his own. Paris town hall limits the number of vehicles in circulation to 2,500 per operator. Sufficient given current demand according to the boss of Cooltra who recalls that “many Parisians will have left the capital during the Games”.
Deployment strategy
Another major challenge for Cooltra: achieving profitability in Paris. The company, which achieved a global turnover of 45 million euros in 2023, hopes to achieve this by the end of this year. For his part, Benjamin Viguier recalls that profitability has always been at the heart of Yego’s strategy. Since 2019, the company has been profitable at European level, compared to 2023 for Cooltra, and has never closed in a city where it has set up. The solidity of their economic model allowed them to finish first in the call for projects from the city of Paris in 2023. That year, their turnover increased by 30% to reach 14.4 million euros. euros.
Between the two operators, the competition is all the tougher as they offer the same usage price, at 0.39 euros per minute. With 150,000 users in Paris, Cooltra is however in the lead, and intends to confirm its first place during the Olympics. But beyond that, the two companies also rely on renting two-wheelers to professionals such as administrations or businesses to develop. This segment already represents 50% of Cooltra’s activity.
2024-03-17 02:56:40
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