🤷‍♀️ Paris Bans Shared Scooters, and It Doesn’t Matter

Some housekeeping before we begin:

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What You Need to Know Today

Paris has voted to ban shared scooters in a highly publicized referendum. While the margin wasn’t close (89% in favor), the turnout was low (only 7%) and so probably not very representative. Nevertheless Mayor Anne Hidalgo is expected to adhere to the results and allow the contracts for the city’s three operators, Lime, Tier, and Dott, to expire later this year. In total, Parisians will lose access to 15k shared scooters, which will almost certainly make getting around without a car less convenient.

But for micromobility advocates who don’t live in Paris, this is mostly a symbolic defeat. Shared mobility (of all kinds, not just scooters) accounts for less than .5% of trips in Europe. Meanwhile the French are buying 900k scooters a year for personal use. This private market will continue to flourish in the aftermath of the vote. One scooter retailer expect sales in Paris to increase 200% for the simple reason that many people like using micromobility, despite the controversy about how shared scooters are used and managed. In fact, micromobility is one of the most well-liked forms of transportation globally. If you work in this industry, take pride in that fact. Our advice to those reading this message is don’t lose too much sleep over what 7% of people in a single city feel about one very specific form factor and business model. You’re winning the war.

After all it’s a big world with lots of room for other kinds of scooters… Just this week, on the opposite side of the globe, the province of Victoria in Australia, which includes the city of Melbourne, officially legalized the use of privately-owned electric scooters. (The province also extended its shared pilot following 3.7M trips.)

In more good news, after helping 5k+ residents in its first year, Denver’s ebike rebate program reopens today. The Mile High City has become a model for other municipalities looking to create micromobility subsidies, of which there are now hundreds globally.

Listen in: On the latest episode of The Micromobility Podcast, we spoke to Grace Rink, architect of Denver’s globally influential ebike rebate.

Related: NYC delivery workers who rely on ebikes say that new safety standards that increase the cost of batteries need to be paired with additional government support.

Indonesia is also establishing itself as a leader in micromobility subsidies with a groundbreaking plan to discount the purchase of nearly 800,000 new electric motorcycles and support the conversion of another 200,000 combustion motorcycles to electric. 

The EBIKE Act, a proposal to create a federal tax incentive for Americans to buy ebikes, faces an uphill battle in the Senate, with Sen. Mitt Romney signaling his opposition and making the dubious claim that building bike lanes increases emissions.

… but it’s not just the public sector that can push people to drive less. Walmart just announced a plan to get 10% of its employees at its Arkansas HQ to commute by bike, scooter, bus, or carpool at least 2-3 times per week.

Following funding shortages and scaling challenges that threatened the viability of the business, Vanmoof is aiming to be EBITDA positive in 2024. The Dutch company has started by raising fresh funds and increasing the prices of its ebikes.

EuroVelo just released an update to its long-distance cycling map of Europe, with new routes in Spain and Hungary. 

Lohia Auto Industries, one of the largest EV producers in India, recently announced plans to introduce high-speed mopeds to its growing fleet of electric passenger and utility vehicles. 

Electric motorcycle company Spiro is partnering with the African Fund for Transformation and Industrialization to electrify Uganda’s motorcycle-taxi industry. With funding from the AFTI, Spiro will distribute 140,000 electric motorcycles for free, as well as 3,000 battery swapping stations, from which the company will earn revenue. (Side note: If this deal really happens, it will dwarf the climate impact of Paris banning 15k scooters…)

It’s not all bad news from France lately. Savoir rouler à vélo, the country’s cycling training program, is aiming to teach 800,000 schoolchildren how to ride a bike this year.

Relatedly Oregon’s “Bike Bus Bill,” a proposal that would allow schools to use transportation funds to organize group rides for drop-off and pickup, has cleared an important legislative hurdle.

A new transportation bill in the U.S. would encourage cities to use federal safety dollars to fixes gaps in their bike lane networks.

Is it time to rethink the bike lane? NACTO’s newest update to its Urban Bikeway Design Guide is loaded with ideas to help transportation planners respond to the rise of electric scooters, cargo bikes, bike trailers, and other “small things with wheels” by redesigning cycleways.

Curfews on scooter riding are making it difficult for essential workers in the U.S. to commute to and from work. 

Lyft’s co-founders are stepping down, with former Amazon exec David Risher coming aboard as the new CEO. Risher hasn’t said much about his plans for the company’s scooter and bike division, which operates in major U.S. cities like NYC, Chicago, and San Francisco. But for what it's worth, he does claim to be an avid cyclist.

A recent study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that 8% of all traffic-related fatalities in the U.S. in 2020—more than 3,000 deaths—were distraction-related.  

Helbiz’s stock tumbled this week when, in an attempt to avoid being delisted by the Nasdaq, the troubled scooter-sharing company did a reverse stock split and tried to change its name to Micromobility. Yeah… in case you’re looking for a comment, here it is.

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