🇺🇸 New Bill to Make E-Bikes Much Cheaper

Plus, inside Boosted’s demise, Andrew Yang is coming to Micromobility America, and Lime integrates with Moovit.

July 27, 2021

Hello and welcome to the Micromobility Newsletter, a weekly missive about mobility, mostly mobility in cities by lightweight electric vehicles. 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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Andrew Yang Is Coming to Micromobility America

From drone delivery to micromobility, emerging businesses and ideas are optimizing the way that people and goods move around cities. But with new opportunities come new challenges. If these nascent technologies are going to be usefully integrated into our cities for the shared benefit of all, forward-thinking leadership will be required.

One of the most interesting champions of policy innovation to emerge on the national stage in recent years is Andrew Yang. The entrepreneur’s long-shot presidential bid last year galvanized millions, bringing many voters who had never participated in politics into the democratic process for the first time. In doing so, Yang transformed his signature policy proposal—universal basic income—from a fringe economic concern into a mainstream issue. Next he ran for mayor of New York City, a race he ultimately lost, promising to add cycling lanes and end car dependency, and often campaigning from the saddle of his bike.

At Micromobility America, Andrew Yang will join us for a fireside chat in which we’ll dive into the state of our pandemic-stricken cities and transportation systems. We’ll ask Yang about micromobility and mass transit, the infrastructure agenda in Washington, 15-min cities, and the role of automobiles in an increasingly urbanizing world.

You can join Andrew Yang, along with hundreds of other micromobility enthusiasts, at Micromobility America at San Francisco’s iconic Pier 70 on Sept 23 by registering here.

Only 5 Days Left to Save 50% on Tickets

Long View

  • American trucks and SUVs are now almost as big as WWII tanks.

  • FT asks, what will arise from the demise of mass commuting? “In the former commuter belts of big cities, remote work is now creating community. Is this a net gain for humanity, or is it outweighed by downsides elsewhere?”

  • Parking startups, which saw their business crash by nearly 90% during the pandemic, are rebounding as traffic returns.

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  • If more people used micromobility, roads could be narrower and shallower, which would save the world billions of dollars in asphalt, cement, and aggregate every year.

  • Has Hollywood’s go-to depiction of bikers as Lycra-wearing nerds held cycling back?

  • In the new normal, rush hour is splintering throughout the workday: “The morning commute hasn’t come back but the nighttime commute has. Midday [travel] is up. That reflects the extent that people are teleworking.”

The Microview

  • The U.S. took a big step toward making e-bikes a lot cheaper this week when Senators Schatz and Markey introduced a new bill proposing a national tax credit of up to $1,500 for electric bikes and trikes. This legislation follows a similar bill that was introduced in the House earlier in the year.

  • Starting next week, Lime’s electric scooters, bikes, and mopeds will be integrated into the Moovit trip planning app in 117 cities across 20 countries.

  • Fast grocery startup Jokr has raised a $170M Series A round, led by GGV Capital, Balderton Capital, and Tiger Global Management.

  • We’ve got a great panel coming up later today, at 12PM PT, about how shared micromobility providers can optimize their RFP strategy and pilot performance. Learn more and register here.

  • TechCrunch looks at the growing interest among startups and investors in micromobility subscriptions (our own Oliver Bruce weighs in on the matter). One VC sums of the appeal of leasing: “Repeatedly paying per ride is both expensive and cognitively taxing. People want low friction in transportation. Getting from here to there shouldn’t require a lot of thought.”

  • The inside story of how cult electric skateboard startup Boosted went under.

  • Moped provider Revel finally got OK’d to launch its all-Tesla ride-hail fleet in Manhattan.

Tesla taxis with TLC license plates at a Revel garage in Red Hook, Brooklyn.

  • Last year, as bike sales surged worldwide, one country curiously sat out the boom: Japan.

  • Meanwhile, Italy’s e-bike boom rolled right into 2021 undiminished. Sales of pedelecs were up 12% in the first half of the year.

  • Chinese tech giant Alibaba just released this weird three-seat e-bike. Who wants to test ride it for us?

The Most Micro of Micromobility

In a new video episode of the podcast, Oliver Bruce interviews Kyle Doerksen, the inventor of the Onewheel, a self-balancing rideable with—you guessed it—just one wheel. Together they discuss:

1️⃣ The origins of electric one-wheelers

💵 Challenges faced by hardware ventures in Silicon Valley

🛹 What happens when recreation meets transportation

Jobs to Be Done

Welcome to our jobs board, where every week we post open positions 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.

Hit reply if you have a job that you’re interested in listing.

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