Une analyse médiatique de l’accueil des nouvelles mobilités à Montréal : De Communauto aux Trottinettes

Abstract

Urban mobility has evolved rapidly in recent years with the diversification of mobility innovations. Our analysis focuses on the reception, expressed through early media coverage, of shared and self-service mobility services in Montreal.
Using seven case studies (Communauto, Bixi, Auto-mobile, Car2Go, electric Bixi and bicycles (Jump) and self-service scooters without anchoring (Lime and Bird)), we seek to understand how the press depicts these innovations. For each case, a three-year time window starting one year before its introduction is identified. Three major daily newspapers in Montreal are used to form our corpus of articles (n=179), published between 1997 and 2021. This analysis also informs the dynamics of integration of an innovation in the sociotechnical sector of daily mobility.
Three periods emerge from the coverage. 1) An initial and largely descriptive treatment of innovations on a case-by-case basis, precedes 2) a comparative treatment of cases, which echoes a political vision in favor of the complementarity of transport modes, despite integration complexities. The positive perceptions of the new modes give way to 3) a more critical approach to emerging dockless systems that, while being part of the same movement, produce a variety of distinct issues. The local origin of an innovation and the motorized nature of the innovation seem to positively influence its reception and its integration into the city.