Micromobility trips surge 60% in one year

Vin Diesel gets fast and furious on a moped, shared startups avert ban in California, and the drive-thru enters a new golden age.

September 01, 2020

Hello and welcome to the Micromobility Newsletter, a weekly missive about mobility, mostly mobility in cities by small electric 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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The Helium Network helps micromobility companies solve connectivity and tracking challenges without expensive cellular plans—connecting low-bandwidth devices like bikes, scooters, and skateboards over long ranges and optimized for extended battery life. With blockchain-based technology and a pay-for-usage model, companies can send more data than before, highlighting popular routes, and staying compliant in the cities they operate.

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Up next…

We admit it: When the coronavirus outbreak first hit, even we had our doubts if micromobility would make it. The two things we knew for sure in the early days of the pandemic were that being near a lot of people and going to a lot of places put you at a higher risk of getting sick. This was bad news for any industry that exists to move people around in dense urban areas.

But then things changed. 

Today it is impossible to talk about the future of cities without talking about clean, socially distanced micromobility. A massive recovery is imminent. And the multi-billion-dollar question on everyone’s mind is, what comes next?

On that, Horace Dediu has a few ideas.

The renowned Apple and mobility analyst has been busy prepping an all-new keynote about how the pandemic is reshaping the micromobility market and bending the adoption curve in unexpected ways. On September 10 at 9AM PT / 12PM ET, Horace will share his analysis virtually in what we believe will be a breakthrough moment for the industry.

Learn more about the keynote and how to get tickets below.

What you need to know this week

  • Between 2018 and 2019, the total number of shared micromobility trips in the US shot up from 84 million to 136 million, according to a new report from NACTO. Scooters accounted for the vast majority of the new trips, more than doubling in usage, while bike ridership grew only 10%. The question is, how long will it take the industry to return to its pre-COVID peak?

    • Another interesting stat: The NACTO numbers show that 45% of micromobility trips replaced a car trip last year.

  • Relatedly, a new study finds that over 29,600 e-scooter riders were treated in US emergency rooms in 2019. Going by those NACTO numbers, that means .03% of scooter trips resulted in an ER visit.

  • Following outcry from both lobbyists and urbanists, the California state legislature has amended AB 1286, a bill that would have effectively killed shared micromobility by prohibiting companies that rent scooters and bikes from using liability waivers.

  • Despite the fact that traffic is down due to travel restrictions, US road deaths were actually up in the first six months of 2020.

  • Bird is shutting down Scoot in Barcelona and laying off 50 employees.

  • The idea for the electric bike has been around since at least the 1880s.

  • Here’s why swappable batteries are a must 👇

  • After suspending local service in the wake of two rider fatalities in July, Revel has resumed dockless moped rentals in New York City. The company also launched in San Francisco this week.

  • A new study of Beijing’s transportation ecosystem suggests that having more micromobility options around actually boosts transit ridership: “[W]e find that subway lines with higher [dockless] bike-sharing intensity showed an 8% larger growth rate in subway ridership compared to ones with lower intensity.”

  • Fast-casual restaurants that once scorned drive-thru lanes like Shake Shack and Chipotle are getting car-friendly makeovers to make up for lost revenue from indoor dining.

  • Vice: “For the last 70 years, American transportation planners have been using the same model to decide what to build. There’s just one problem: it’s often wrong.”

  • Zoba illustrates how one-way trips lead to fleet imbalances for micromobility operators.

  • As school restarts, Bird is offering US educators one hour of free scooter rides per day.

  • Lime is the latest scooter operator to arrive in the UK. The California-based startup began its first pilot in the city of Milton Keynes this week.

  • The financial future of private bus companies, which take 10 million US children to school every day, is in jeopardy due to the pandemic.

  • Three friend have completed the first-known trip across America on an electric scooter. The journey, which was sponsored by Segway, was made using the Ninebot KickScooter MAX.

  • The Guardian: “Last year, the International Energy Agency made a finding that stunned even its own researchers. SUVs were the 2nd largest cause of the global rise in CO2 emissions over the past decade, eclipsing all shipping, aviation, heavy industry and even trucks.”

  • In the US, the number of Amazon delivery stations, small logistics centers in cities where drivers pick up packages, has surged 71% since March.

  • Bird scooter riders in Tel Aviv have clocked 5.5 million trips in the last two years.

  • New hiring suggests Bond Mobility may be expanding e-bike service to Paris and Hamburg.

  • Last week we mentioned, but did not link to, an espionage-themed Yadea ad in which Vin Diesel, star of the Fast and Furious franchise, croons in a nightclub, breaks an assailant’s fingers, and outmaneuvers SUVs on an electric moped. We apologize for burying the lede.

One last thing: Last week’s newsletter contained a typo in the news section. The vehicle-leasing platform Bolt Bikes has rebranded to Zoomo, not Zooma.

Pod people

Is subscription the future of scooters? David Hyman, CEO of Unagi, stops by the podcast to make the case for leasing to Oliver Bruce.

Jobs to be done

Welcome to our jobs board, where every week we post new career openings in hopes of connecting our readers with professional opportunities in the burgeoning world of new mobility. Find out who’s hiring below and sign up for the newsletter to view fresh listings every week.