As RFI reports citing France Bleu radio, a folding scooter can be rented using a special app downloaded to a phone. For now, it is only available to employees of the French national railway company (SNCF). They will test the system this summer, and on August 28 the scooters will become available to everyone.
The Alsatian startup Knot, which developed this project, is already offering public scooter stations in other areas of the Paris region Île-de-France. In a few days, scooter stations will open in the towns of Châtillon and Montrouge.
The developers explain that initially scooters will need to be left at one of the nearby stations. But in the future, they plan to equip them with "smart" locks, allowing them to be left anywhere.
It is assumed that scooters will be used to cover the last few hundred meters from the station to work or home. But it is possible that they will be rented for walks. "If tomorrow we install them in Versailles, our target audience will be families and tourists," explains Pauline Mikhailova, co-founder of the startup Knot.
Even the youngest can use these scooters: unlike bicycles, scooters can be ridden on sidewalks.