Rome welcomed its first shared e-scooters in May. Micro-mobility solutions embody the needs for fair and sustainable mobility. Research suggests e-scooters have an issue with inclusivity — and if a transport mode is not inclusive, it cannot be truly sustainable. Male user dominance could result from the "tech bro" image e-scooters were initially saddled with. Other shortcomings in diversity may be due to geographical spread of scooter availability, cost and smartphone requirement.
In its guidelines for shared micro-mobility , US transport alliance Nacto states that disadvantage populations should be considered first priority to address longstanding structural inequities. Some scooter companies are trying to address this. In the US, the Lime Access and Bird Access programmes provide discounted fares to those reliant on government financial support, and enable individuals without smartphones to use e-scooters. Coronavirus has led many to search for socially distant methods of transport that are more sustainable than fossil-fuelled vehicles Credit: Getty Images.
So, are e-scooters the sustainable travel we need? To target a modal shift from cars, widespread presence — convenient access — is key. Lime, for instance, also partners with Uber and Google Maps so that when people plan journeys, e-scooters appear as a viable alternative to car use.
Linking in with public transport is also vital. Marion Lagadic, a project manager at 6t, which conducted the French e-scooter surveys, agrees. Aimee Gauthier, chief knowledge officer at the Institute for Transport Development and Policy, agrees.
E-scooters are still relative newcomers to the streets, but their story has evolved rapidly. Through wider use, sustainability commitments and regulations, they have started to shake off that tech-gadget novelty and be treated as a more serious transport mode, and one with added benefits in an era of social distancing. But making sure e-scooter use is inclusive, safe and sustainable — and complements, if not actively supports, other green forms of travel — takes a lot of work, from private companies and governments alike.
Much of that work is yet to come. The emissions from travel it took to report this story were 0kg CO2: the writer interviewed sources remotely. The digital emissions from this story are an estimated 1. The shifting dynamics supporting this growth makes it critical for businesses in this space to keep abreast of the changing pulse of the market. Poised to reach over Within Europe, which continues to remain an important element in the world economy, Germany will add over Over In Japan, Motorcycles, Scooters and Mopeds will reach a market size of 3.
Presented in visually rich graphics are these and many more need-to-know quantitative data important in ensuring quality of strategy decisions, be it entry into new markets or allocation of resources within a portfolio. Several macroeconomic factors and internal market forces will shape growth and development of demand patterns in emerging countries in Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the Middle East. Santa Monica recently used scooter data to draft and pass an amendment that will add 19 new miles of separated micromobility infrastructure.
From an environmental and urban mobility perspective, London and New York are two of the most important cities in the world. The introduction of e-scooters into these two densely packed and highly mobile cities will have a dramatic impact on daily commuter habits, particularly at a time when public transit ridership is still suffering due to COVID So what can we learn from all of this? What will the first four years and million rides of the shared e-scooter industry tell us about the future of micromobility?
First, we should expect its growth to continue. Adaptable, environmentally friendly solutions to car congestion and urban pollution were in high demand even before the global spread of the coronavirus in Look for the relationships between cities and operators to strengthen and become more cooperative as scooters transition from a perceived recreational vehicle to an essential part of the urban transportation grid.
Bird is boldly making the case that untethered e-scooters "dockless," in scooter-speak have a better claim to public space than cars--indeed, that e-scooters can take cars, including Ubers and Lyfts, off the road and contribute to greener, less congested cities. Organizing random transportation is a complex task. Bird imports e-scooters from China, and then installs a minicomputer a "Bird brain" to connect a scooter to the company's software platform.
After this modification, the company can see where every Bird is located, lock and unlock the wheels and motor, and throttle a scooter's speed remotely.
With the hyperfocused VanderZanden, Bird has the kind of leadership needed to handle the difficult mix of technology, logistics, and politics it requires. A serial entrepreneur who's not yet 40 but who's already earned and left a few scars in his career, he is an acknowledged ops maestro and a veteran of both Uber and Lyft.
Under VanderZanden, the company has yoked a powerful entrepreneurial vision to a huge mission: to change urban transportation utterly. For its audacity and ambition, for its ferocious execution skills--for demonstrating, even, that sometimes entrepreneurship requires playing in a gray area rather than wearing a white hat--Bird is Inc. You might say that public transportation is in VanderZanden's blood.
His father left the family shortly after Travis was born, and Robin often had to bring her son along to work. Young Travis was spotting market inefficiencies. In , after graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire with a computer science degree, VanderZanden packed up his forest-green Pontiac, borrowed money from his older sister, and headed for San Diego to find a job. He did, becoming a product manager at Qualcomm, where he worked on the cell-phone application platform BREW, which allowed third-party developers to create and sell games, ringtones, and other apps.
It meant eight hours of driving for every four hours of classes. They told me it was too far and how it didn't make sense. But out of stubbornness, I finished. In , he quit Qualcomm and moved to Austin, where he started his first company, QikCom, an enterprise chat app. One day, he recognized a name among the new sign-ups for the fledgling service: David Sacks, who'd recently founded a rival called Yammer. Sacks was checking out the competition, but VanderZanden saw an opportunity and asked Sacks to have dinner.
Sacks quickly realized QikCom was a one-man band, plus a few freelancers. But he was impressed enough to hire the frontman: VanderZanden started the sales team at Yammer and became its chief revenue officer. By , though, VanderZanden had quit to start another company, this one called Cherry, an on-demand car-wash app.
Even after VanderZanden left Yammer, Sacks remained intrigued. He invested in Cherry. Shortly thereafter, VanderZanden became a one-man soap opera. When Lyft founders Logan Green and John Zimmer began selling shares, VanderZanden asked permission to sell even more, but the board did not approve.
According to a source familiar with the situation, VanderZanden then pushed the board to explore selling Lyft to Uber. See ya, the board responded. He quickly landed at Uber, as vice president of driver growth.
Just as quickly, Lyft sued in November , alleging he breached confidentiality agreements and stole company secrets. VanderZanden countersued, accusing Lyft of accessing his personal text messages and emails, thus setting off a two-year court battle that ended with a confidential settlement in June In September , VanderZanden left Uber, telling colleagues that he wanted to spend more time with his family. This was when bikesharing firms like Ofo were making a splash in Asia, and just four months before Lime--then a bikesharing company--was launching in cities and on college campuses across the U.
Meanwhile, companies like Boosted Boards were making electric skateboards popular. Boosted founder Sanjay Dastoor now leads e-scooter company Skip.
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