An early leader emerges in Germany’s scooter war

July 19, 2019

Also this week, Ford gets its own emoji, zombie bicycles ride again in Singapore, and Mr. Bolt goes to Washington, but first…

August Will Be Here Soon (!)

Which means there’s less than two weeks left for you to get your tickets to Micromobility Europe (Berlin :: October 1) for 33% off the General Admission price.

From the Blog

Over on the blog, Horace Dediu answers eight frequently asked questions about micromobility. Here’s a taste:

The conversion of short trips to micro vehicles and the creation of new demand around micro vehicles is extraordinarily rapid. Over 100 million trips switched to on-demand micromobility within one year. Some of that is due to capital flowing in very quickly but there is clear demand. It seems that a significant share of trips can be converted in urban cores, especially in Europe within 5 years.

Read the full article here.

What You Need to Know This Week

  • A new report claimed that Bird lost nearly $100 million this winter while its revenue shrank to only $15 million, and it is now seeking $300 million in new funding to compensate. | The Information

  • … after the story came out, Bird CEO Travis VanderZanden shot back on Twitter, pointing out that the startup makes $1.27 on every ride on its Bird Zero scooters, which make up more than 75% of its fleet, and claiming that the $100 million figure was actually a one-time accounting write-off for old scooters. | TechCrunch

  • The peer-to-peer car-sharing platform Turo pulled in $250 million in funding, driving an estimated $1 billion valuation. | WSJ

  • An exec at Jump has called for a ban on privately-owned cars in city centers. | Telegraph

  • NYC’s Citi Bike program is going to double in size by 2023, including an aggressive expansion in the outer-boroughs. | Gothamist

  • Will scooters drive real estate values? A Lime exec thinks so. | Fortune

  • Ford spent two years lobbying the Unicode Consortium for an emoji that looks like one of its pickup trucks. | The Atlantic

  • Google Maps now offers bike-sharing information in two dozen world cities, including the location of stations and the number of bicycles at them. | The Verge

  • Usain Bolt–backed Bolt Mobility has been granted a permit to operate 600 electric scooters in Washington, D.C., with an option to expand its fleet next year. | DCist

  • Moov Technologies has refurbished 1,000 abandoned ofo bicycles and will operate them as a fleet in Singapore. | Strait Times

  • One month after Germany legalized dockless e-scooters, Berlin-based Tier is head-and-shoulders above the competition in terms of app downloads. | Lufthansa Innovation Hub

  • Spin is partnering with Transit in Austin to enable multimodal trip planning via the Transit app. | Curbed

  • In another sign that scooter companies are getting serious about riders’ wellbeing, Lime has formed a safety advisory board. Bird established its own committee a year ago. | Citylab

  • Populus added a new tool to its Mobility Manager platform that helps cities understand where shared scooter and bike trips are happening. | Smart Cities Dive

  • Michigan startup Refraction unveiled an 80-pound driverless delivery robot called REV-1 that is designed to go in the bike lane. | The Verge

  • The SFMTA voted this week to make its electric scooter program permanent. The decision opens the door for San Francisco to allow more vehicles and issue permits to more operators. | SF Chronicle

  • In China, there are more than twice as many trips on pedal-assist bikes and pedal-free scooters as there are on analog bikes every day. Hellobike, which survived the country’s bike-sharing bust and has 230 million users, is going electric to meet that demand. | TechCrunch 

  • Ever wanted to start your own scooter company? Here’s how you do it. | Scooter Map Blog

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