Bird and Lime Go to DEFCON 1

March 31, 2020

This week, the future of self-cleaning handlebars is here, more scooters startups hit pause, and the Uber/LA privacy battle heats up, but first…

Welcome to the Micromobility Newsletter, a weekly missive about mobility, mostly mobility in cities by small vehicles like bikes and scooters. The reason you’re reading this email is that you signed up on our website or came to one of our events.

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Thank you for reading.

In this week’s addition to the Micromobility Growth Toolkit, Founder Shield tackles the important task of permit application review and compliance. A working knowledge of typical requirements found at the city level will assist in communication, negotiation, and ultimate compliance with city officials.

Founder Shield hopes this simple packet, an ideal desktop guide for future reference, assists in fulfilling your expansion goals.

Triple M

Most micromobility companies rely on Chinese manufacturing for vehicle parts. What happens to their business when that supply chain is rocked by a once-in-a-century pandemic? And how will self-quarantining and other travel restrictions change the demand for scooters and bikes going forward?

Today, on our video conference call for Triple M members, Micromobility Podcast cohost Oliver Bruce will interview Tony Ho of Segway-Ninebot and Danielle Cheng of Okai to gain visibility into how two of the world’s largest micromobility OEMs have been handling supply chain disruptions since COVID-19 emerged in China. The conversation will be followed by a group Q&A, in which Triple M members can ask their own questions about the situation at the factories.

The call will take place today, March 31, from 5-6pm PST.

Sign up for a free 30-day trial of Triple M now to receive the Zoom participant info, plus other cool perks. 

Can’t join the call at that time? No worries. Triple M members can download a recording of it—plus recordings of all previous calls—anytime.

Podcast

Horace Dediu and Oliver Bruce unite for their first pandemic-era podcast to talk about social distancing, antifragility, historical precedents, and how enduring brands are forged during moments of crisis. Listen here.

#MMAmerica

Yoohoo 👋

Today is the last day to book tickets to the Micromobility America conference (Bay Area | July 16-17) for $300 off the GA price.

Come find out how the most resilient businesses in mobility are regrouping from a system-wide shutdown.

What You Need to Know This Week

  • Leading off, Bird laid off 30% of its workforce, or a little more than 400 employees, on Friday due to the financial and operational toll of COVID-19. Meanwhile Lime, is said to be raising an emergency funding round at a valuation of $400 million, or 80% less than what it was valued at 14 months ago. Unique times.

  • Meanwhile the coronavirus pandemic continues to push scooters out of cities:

    • Lime has switched off service everywhere except South Korea.

    • Voi is temporarily offline in all cities except Gothenburg and the Nordic capitals. Although the company says it is on sound financial footing until 2021, it has started furloughing employees and cutting salaries to lower its overhead.

    • After touting its role as an essential transportation service, Spin has changed course and halted operations in all but eight cities: Austin, Baltimore, Denver, Detroit, Los Angeles, Portland, San Francisco, Tampa, and Washington, DC.

    • Grüv, on the other hand, continues to run dockless scooters in San Jose and Oakland. The company is also offering free rides to essential workers.

  • Road traffic in the U.S. is down 38% compared to one month ago, according to INRIX, as cities and states ramp up restrictions on personal travel. | INRIX

  • It looks like negotiations between Uber and LA over location data privacy have collapsed. The ride-hailing company, whose scooter permit is currently suspended by the city because it refuses to share real-time customer trip data through MDS, is filing a lawsuit in federal court against the Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT). Uber’s argument is that LADOT is violating the Fourth Amendment by asking for the company’s business records without a warrant. | CNET

  • … could this latest development have something to do with the fact that Washington, DC decided to join LA in demanding real-time trip data last week? | Michele Kyrouz

  • Revel has expanded its service in NYC to include all of Manhattan north of 65th Street, as well as some zones near hospitals further downtown. With this move, Revel has quietly become the first company (we know of) to offer dockless micromobility in Manhattan. | Streetsblog

  • The CEO of Cityscoot says the European moped company cannot pause service because its batteries would be damaged by lack of use. | LA Tribune

  • Wheels is allowing people to rent or buy its pedal-less ebikes while its shared service is on pause. But the really exciting part is that the company is partnering with NanoSeptic to outfit its vehicles with self-cleaning handlebars and brake levers. “NanoSeptic’s technology, which is powered by light, uses mineral nano-crystals to create an oxidation reaction that is stronger than bleach, according to the company’s website.” | TechCrunch

  • More micromobility companies are offering relief to healthcare employees and other essential workers on the front lines of fighting coronavirus:

    • Lyft is giving free bike-share memberships and discounted rides to first responders, hospital employees, and more in NYC, Boston, and Chicago.

    • In London, Gocycle, Fully Charged, Jump, and others are giving NHS employees ebike loaners or free/discounted ebike rides to help them avoid mass transit.

    • Grab has deployed a limited number of free scooters for essential workers in the Philippines.

    • JCDecaux is giving healthcare workers free one-year memberships to its docked bike-sharing systems in France.

    • Software platform Joyride is waiving monthly subscription fees for any fleet provider that is helping service workers or food delivery systems.

    • MoGo, Detroit’s public bike-sharing program, is making one-month memberships free to anyone who is just looking for a way to stay active during the lockdown.

  • How Boosted breakthrough scooter, Rev, ended up killing the company. (h/t Chuck Temple via Triple M)

  • Vanmoof’s online sales have surged 48% since the beginning of February compared to the same period last year. | Vanmoof

  • UK bike shops are the latest to report that they have seen an uptick in business since COVID-19 hit. “Cycling has a strategic role to play in local transport resilience—key workers are able to get to work in towns and cities without public transport or relying on lifts.” | Guardian

  • Bond is branching beyond the shared model and making its ebikes available to purchase outright or rent on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. The European company is also offering a coronavirus discount. | Bond

  • Since the pandemic reached Germany, mode share for cars, bikes, and walking has increased, while mass transit has slumped, according to Motiontag. In absolute terms, the average German traveled about half as much as usual this month. | (h/t Augustin Friedel via Triple M)

  • New Jump charging and docking stations were spotted in Seattle. | Dongho Chang

  • Here is an interview with the former CEO of Gotcha, which was recently acquired by Ojo and became part of Last Mile Holdings, about the benefits of slow growth and consolidation in micromobility. | CoMotion

  • A new study on geofencing reveals that, absent regulations, scooter companies modify which areas of a city they cover as often as once a month. | Science Direct

  • IBM is developing a cobalt- and nickel-free rechargeable battery that it claims can outperform lithium-ion. | Bike Europe

  • Xiaomi launched a pint-sized electric moped that costs only $420. | Electrek

  • UK Treasury Secretary Grant Shapps on the future of sustainable transportation: “Public transport and active travel will be the natural first choice for our daily activities. We will use our cars less and be able to rely on a convenient, cost-effective and coherent public transport network.” (h/t Jay Bain via Triple M)

  • Going against the grain, Cincinnati shut down its public bike-sharing system, Red Bike, over coronavirus concerns. | Enquirer

  • Chinese bike-sharing company Hellobike has postponed its IPO and laid off 10% of its staff. | China Knowledge

  • Buried in this article about NYC’s emergency truce with delivery workers who use throttle ebikes is an origin story about where the city’s mysterious and ubiquitous Arrow ebikes come from. | FastCo

  • One of the sad ironies of the coronavirus pandemic is that it could both obliterate the dockless scooter business and, at the same time, vindicate it. Even as scooter startups hemorrhage cash due to restrictions on travel, cities are recognizing that micromobility is an indispensable link in the transportation system during moments of crisis. With no Congressional bailout in sight, it may be time for cities to start thinking about subsidizing scooter companies to secure their long-term existence, as Laura Bliss acknowledges in a new piece for Bloomberg.

How to Help Those in Need

Many kids in the East Bay are vulnerable right now due to school closures.

From now until April 10, Micromobility Industries will be matching all donations up to $5,000 to the Ed Fund of West Contra Costa County, home of Micromobility America, to support. If you’re able to give, this is a great way to double your impact.

Jobs to Be Done

Welcome to our jobs board. Every week we post new career openings in hopes of connecting our smart and talented readers with exciting professional opportunities in the world of new mobility.

Find out who’s hiring below and sign up for the newsletter to see more listings every week.

If your company is looking to make its next hire, and you want to reach thousands of qualified candidates who live and breathe mobility, you should list with us.  Hit reply to find out more about being listed. No charge.

Goings On

InnoDays, which connects companies and entrepreneurial students to prototype solutions to pressing problems in 48 hours, is going virtual this year with a focus on micromobility. If you want to get involved, they are looking for mentors to participate on April 9-11.

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