Close Call for Cityscoot

The commercial court has approved the takeover offer for the Parisian electric scooter rental company Cityscoot by Cooltra.

A symbol of a young, cool, dynamic, and responsible France riding shared electric scooters, Cityscoot is now under Spanish ownership. A new symbol of the gradual decline of this Eldorado of new shared gentle mobility solutions.

The 250,000 Parisian subscribers to Cityscoot received confirmation of this on Friday morning via messaging: “Starting today, Cityscoot will offer its service in Paris only through Cooltra”. They immediately switched to the Cooltra app to continue enjoying the service.

“For Cooltra, this is much more than a simple commercial transaction. It is a deep commitment to Cityscoot and its users,” specifies Fabien Douay, France Director of Cooltra. “Cityscoot and Cooltra can boast of being pioneers in the shared electric scooter rental sector. We are very happy to continue our journey together.”

Cityscoot does not disappear

Cityscoot claims to have 2,500 vehicles in Paris, regularly used by 250,000 active users for a total of 18 million trips since the company’s creation in 2014. Cooltra is not expected to take over the existing fleet and will stick to its 1,500 Askoll models equivalent to 50 cc. Coincidentally, the color codes of both companies are identical with light blue and white. A small Cityscoot sticker on the sides to avoid confusing customers, and they’re back on the road. However, no miracle is expected for Cityscoot employees, of whom only about thirty are likely to keep their jobs.

At the beginning of 2023, the company suffered a first setback when Nice decided to part ways with the operator serving its territory since 2018. It has since entrusted its confidence to Yego, which offers a similar service but has agreed to pay a higher fee. When questioned by Le Figaro, Cityscoot criticized a “bidding fee system”, claiming it jeopardizes the industry. “If this approach becomes widespread, there will be no such operators in the coming years,” declared the operator. The problem appears to be deeper…