Paris Mayor Hits Cars Where It Hurts

February 04, 2020

This week, the U.K.’s top priority after Brexit is scooters, Bill Murray introduces the first Jeep ebike, and Africa’s biggest city bans its most popular form of transport, but first…

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#MMAmerica

Micromobility America, our largest conference yet, lands in the Bay Area on April 22-23 and will bring together +1,000 mobility entrepreneurs, policymakers, investors, journalists, and enthusiasts for two days of speeches, networking meet-ups, expos, and demos.

If you are interested in the future of urban mobility by lightweight utility vehicles—or the unbundling of the car, as preached by disruptive innovation analyst/our cofounder Horace Dediu—you should think about coming.

For the month of February, we are offering an extra 40% off the General Admission price for tickets. Plus, through our group rate, for every additional ticket you purchase up to three, the price per person drops $100 📉

Many of the world’s most innovative tech and mobility companies will be exhibiting at Micromobility America, including micromobility startups, OEMs, charging solutions, network software providers, and more.

Does your company want to exhibit at the world’s largest event devoted to the burgeoning micromobility movement? Contact us.

What You Need to Know This Week

  • Leading off, Paris’s Mayor Anne Hidalgo has pledged that, if reelected, her government will remove almost three-quarters of the city’s on-street parking by 2024. It’s all part of her vision to turn the French capital into a “fifteen-minute city.” | Forbes

  • Hidalgo’s plan also includes measures that would make it easier for people who need an adaptive bicycle to get one. | Isabella Rocca

  • Bird is deploying a thousand Bird Two scooters in San Francisco through its subsidiary Scoot. Unveiled last August, the state-of-the-art modal features puncture-resistant tires, anti-vandalism sensors, and a minimum of exposed screws. | TechCrunch

  • Lime is partnering with the city of San Jose to pilot a sidewalk riding detection functionality. Using sensors and an AI-assisted statistical model, the company claims its technology can tell when people are riding on pavement with up to 95% accuracy. Rather than fine errant users or block them from the app, Lime will send push notifications warning them to stay on the street. | VentureBeat

  • With Brexit out of the way, the British government is preparing to finally legalize electric scooters. The consultation period begins this month and will be followed by trials in cities. The national speed limit is expected to be set at 15.5 mph. | The Times

  • Even though the U.K.’s ban is still in effect, personal scooter sales are already climbing. | The Standard

  • As scooter startups Lime and Grow retreat in Latin America, at least one micromobility player, with a different business model, plans on expanding. Brazil-based Tembici, which offers station-based bike-share and is supported by a mix of user and ad revenue, claims it will soon reach new cities, although it has not yet specified where. | LABS

  • Blink and you’d miss it. Jeep snuck a brief teaser for its first-ever ebike into its Super Bowl ad featuring Bill Murray on Sunday. The off-road mountain bike, which features a powerful 750W motor and thick 4.8-inch tires, will go on sale in June. | Engadget

  • In Germany, the Federal Motor Transport Authority has given the scooter startup Wind permission to reenter the country. | Augustin Friedel

  • Spin is tripling its fleet in Phoenix, where it is the last scooter startup standing after several of its competitors, including Bird and Lime, exited. The Ford-owned company will also add scooters in nearby Tempe. | KTAR 

  • The NYPD issued more moving violations to cyclists than truck drivers in 2019. Last year saw the highest number of cycling fatalities in New York City in decades, due in part to a rise in fatal crashes caused by trucks and SUVs. | Gothamist

  • This summer, Santa Monica is going to simultaneously open the process for more micromobility providers to apply for permits and cut the total number of providers it allows by one or two. | Santa Monica Daily Press

  • Every month Prabin Joel calculates the average user ratings for various scooter companies and posts them on online. This month, Joel took the extra step of looking at the most-frequent issues that users report. Turns out the biggest source of frustration for customers is issues with the apps themselves.

  • After a decade, Denver’s B-Cycle bike-share network is shutting down because of declining ridership. The system suffered from competition from private micromobility services, limited station coverage, and outdated technology. | Denverite

  • Related: After losing its sponsor, the B-Cycle program in nearby Boulder may not have enough funding to stay in business past March. Making matters worse, the city has placed a moratorium on scooters. | Daily Camera

  • California-based Wheels is taking over the micromobility startup Mygo in Madrid and deploying its own bike/scooter hybrids for rent. | Business Insider

  • A new report pegs the total number of shared micromobility trips taken in Paris during the recent six-week transit strike at almost 10 million. | Fluctuo

  • What’s more, that mode shift may be durable. Another poll of Paris finds that, among those who tried cycling for the first time because of the strike, more than half would consider switching full-time. | Bloomberg

  • Lagos has banned motorcycle- and tricycle-taxis because of concerns over their safety. Until now, motorbikes were the most common form of commercial transport in the Nigerian capital, which has a population the size of Portugal or Switzerland. So far the rollout of the ban has been beset by chaotic commutes and long waits for buses and auto taxis. | BBC

  • Dutch moped rental startup Go Sharing has raised $11 million, with plans to expand to 20 cities within the Netherlands. | Go Sharing

  • Lime is ending its short-lived dockless ebike program in Calgary. | CBC

  • Automotive safety supplier Autoliv has completed crash tests for the first airbag designed for scooters. | Just Auto

  • Swedish startup Vassla has unveiled a new form factor that is somewhere between a moped, a scooter, and a bike. | Feber

  • The city of Taiyuan in northern China is disinfecting 40,000 public bikes a day to fight the spread of coronavirus. | Shanxi Channel

  • Also coming to Milan is the Spanish moped rental startup Acciona. | La Automobile

  • Chicago’s mayor confirmed that the city’s dockless scooter pilot will return this summer. Some notable results from last year’s survey: scooters were parked properly 81% of the time, respondents used ride-hailing services 42% less, 77% of trips started or ended in non-priority areas, and early adopters were disproportionately white, educated, and wealthy. The survey also estimates that scooters helped eliminate 300,000 vehicle trip miles. | Smart Cities Dive

  • How Lyft lost the inside track on ebikes. | CNN

Correction: Last week we reported that Barcelona is putting $620 billion toward its climate plan. The correct figure is $620 million. Wishful thinking.

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