This is one of the gag questions of recent weeks in Nice: “Has anyone ever seen bicycles hanging on the new connected padlocks installed on urban posts? “If the answer, based on visual observations, is very often negative, do not trust appearances, defends the Parisian company Sharelock which has deployed massively 700 throughout the city since last July.
The devices supposed to replace the traditional U and fight against theft, against a low-cost subscription or free of charge in the event of short use, “have yet been unlocked 1,300 times and 80% of the stations have had users”, indicates the co-founder and CEO. of the company, Nicolas Louvet. According to him, this false uphill start is “normal” in a metropolis where the use of bicycles takes time to develop.
While cycle paths are starting to spring up all over the city, the company, which finances the device and manages its operation, claims to have noticed encouraging signs: “Uses are more and more correlated with the work motive because the service is the most used during the week. We also note a real complementarity with public transport, with use in the most saturated slots of the latter. »
Sharelock, generalizing its system for the first time on such a large scale, after more modest experiments in the Paris region in particular, gives itself two years to succeed in Nice. The time to convince cyclists of the interest of the service. The time also for everyone to understand what it is all about. “Some thought they were ashtrays, confesses the leader, we will have to continue to make ourselves known. »