TIER-Dott will deploy 15,000 e-bikes across Paris to cater for the 15 million visitors descending on the capital for the 2024 Olympic Games.
The shared micromobility operator has unveiled its ‘Cycling Mobility Plan’ to Zag Daily which includes 5,000 additional bikes, 40 additional staff and a new service area available in Paris, Saint-Denis (Stade de France), Nanterre (Arena), Aubervilliers, and Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines.
This plan is designed to align with the desire of Paris City Hall and the Olympic and Paralympic Games Organizing Committee to offer a 100% bike-friendly event.
“You cannot imagine the excitement on the ground right now,” says TIER-Dott’s Chief Business Officer Nicolas Gorse in an interview.
“There’s such an electricity in the air.
“This is the biggest event we’ve ever participated in and the largest fleet we’ve ever deployed. We feel like we’re hosting the world.”
More cycle lanes, more parking spaces
With the creation of over 60 km of bike lanes, the best way to get to the events will be by bike.
“The famous stadium in Paris known as the Stade de France is actually quite far from Paris,” says Gorse. “Typically you would need to take the train but now with the cycle lanes the stadium is just 20 minutes from Paris by bike.”
Additionally, 10,000 new parking spaces have been earmarked near all the Olympics sites. These parking spots are for both personal and shared bikes.
The most flexible transport system
Gorse said the Games present a real opportunity to showcase how flexible shared micromobility can be.
“If we talk about cars, you can’t just paint more car parking spaces, right? But for us, we can update the geofence, increase the number of parking spots, adapt our pricing and run a whole new communications strategy through our app in the flick of a switch. That is why this is the most flexible mass transportation system out there.
“If anything happens and a parking space needs to be increased or decreased in size for whatever reason, we have a hotline, the city can call us and we’ll make the changes.”
From an operational standpoint, TIER-Dott is introducing six additional cargo bikes for micro-rebalancing and it is expanding its street repair team for maximum reliability. The firm will also implement a real-time fault detection technology to help the grounds team quickly identify and isolate reported damaged bikes.
On pricing, the operator will launch a new package tailored to Olympics Games visitors – 10 rides of 20 minutes each for €29.99. TIER-Dott will retain its existing daily and monthly passes to avoid penalising regular users in Greater Paris.
Segway’s support
Gorse said that being able to operate this size of fleet and ramp up to such a high usage level requires a lot of support from its vehicle solution partner Segway.
“Our operation relies on three key pillars. Number one is that we have a sustainable vehicle which means that it should last long and it should be repairable. Second, the vehicle should be appealing to users and available precisely when someone needs it. And third is that it needs to be cost efficiently operated, so we can offer the service at an affordable price. Those three components are completely shared between the one who provides the vehicle solution and the one who operates the vehicle. That is why Segway is pivotal to our success at the Olympics.”
The Olympics begins on Friday 26 July and finishes on Sunday 11 August 2024.
“We’re going to show everyone attending why shared micromobility is the best solution for events of this magnitude. Game on.”
