Urban transport is changing, and it is being reshaped as we speak. We start seeing more and more shared bikes and scooters all around us. What at first appeared as a convenience for tourists and a means of entertainment for teenagers, is turning into a way for people to travel in the city.
Congestion is a huge problem in most cities and the solution is not public transportation as we hoped. People also start looking more into environmental-friendly means of transportation and more independence. The increasing number of populations in urban setups requires new ways of transportation. This could be achieved by bringing micromobility closer to the traffic participants.
Micromobility is transportation using small devices and includes bicycles, tricycles, and the whole electric range of e-scooters, e-bicycles, and even e-unicycles and e-skateboards.
Micromobility is already seen as a disruptor of the actual means of transportation, although is currently facing threats coming from the lack of regulation or the increased risk of theft.
Where does micromobility fit in the current landscape
Considering the setup of the urban landscaping, and how it evolves and changes, micromobility comes to solve some of the problems we are all facing, like low air quality or the lack of parking spaces in central areas and large human agglomerations. Micromobility can solve the parking problem, at least partially.
Electric mobility is expanding at a rapid pace, and we can see the trends in the growth of micromobility start-ups, like Bird, Lime, or Tier.
A recent wired.com article, written by Levi Tillemann, an adviser in the Obama administration’s U.S. Energy Department and Lassor Feasley, explains why micromobility has the potential to solve some of the biggest problems of cities and their agglomerations.
Electric scooters, for example, can be more efficient than other modes of transport. One kilowatt-hour of energy can only get a gasoline-powered car to travel 0.8 miles, according to Wired. An electric vehicle can travel 4.1 miles under the same conditions. However, an electric scooter can travel 82.8 miles using the same amount of energy.
And more, while we could look at this situation as this or that situation, it becomes more of a this and that situation. This means that while people will probably not give up their cars any time soon, they can use them in parallel with other means of transportation from the micromobility range.
On-Demand Mobility and Mobility as a Service
The market can also see a rise of on-demand mobility and mobility as a service MaaS
A growing number of micromobility providers allow users to choose between multiple vehicle types for rent using a single app, including TIER, which now offers e-mopeds and e-scooters in Berlin, Cologne, Munich, and Hamburg.
From the environmental point of view, micromobility has the potential to reduce urban transport emissions.
In its HBR Podcast, Exponential View, Azeem Azhar talked to tech analyst Horace Dediu, who coined the term “micromobility”.
In this podcast, Horace Dediu said “(…) micromobility, when I started out, I defined it by the size of the vehicle. I simply said that micromobility is transportation by vehicles which weigh less than 500 kilograms, which is about 1100 pounds. Now, over the years that has been pulled and pushed into different directions. Because obviously some people felt excluded. Some people felt it was too much, too little, and so on. And I’m more inclined now to define micromobility as very efficient mobility in terms of the energy consumed. So I’m actually working on introducing a new measure of efficiency called the MOT. (…) it’s meant to stand for a Modicum of Transport, which is the minimum amount of transportation needed to move one person, one kilometer.”
We can also see a decrease in the wish of younger generations to own a personal car. The saying why to buy the whole cow when you only need milk fits the new generations when it comes to owning a car. With so many options when it comes to ride-sharing or vehicle sharing, it becomes désuet for some young people to own a car.
Accessibility issues
Micromobility is not fit for all people, for example, e-scooters have a maximum weight and most of these devices are not fit for people with disabilities. Another problem could come from the state of the roads in the country or city you are or from the infrastructure and how organized everything is. The lack of separate lanes could also increase the danger to travel with such devices.
According to a case study made by eltis.org, “Terms like ‘liveable’, ‘pedestrianization’ and ‘green streets’ are symptomatic of the makeover that many European cities are undergoing. Investment in cycling infrastructure, more pedestrian zones, new green spaces and street furniture, and restrictions on private car use are some of the actions being taken. Many cities are formalizing their plans for more sustainable urban transport systems – as evidenced by the number of cities across Europe that are implementing a Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP). The Eltis city database now has details of over 1,000 cities involved in ongoing or completed urban mobility projects and initiatives.”
But mobility is about accomodating more than a portion of the population, and that only in the urban areas. What does micromobility mean for small cities? It could also be a solution for small to medium-distance travel, even in small and remote areas.
Light Electric Vehicles
More and more traction is coming from Light Electric Vehicles (LEVs), an important and continuously increasing segment of the EV (electric vehicles) market. LEVs include everything from e-scooters and e-bikes to e-rickshaws and e-forklifts, to e-motorbikes and low-speed electric vehicles.
One of the problems that prevent Evs from taking over the market fast enough is the problem with charging. This problem gets solved with LEVs by swapping batteries. Gogoro is fighting for a few years now to join the plug-and-play batteries train. After securing a collaboration with Yamaha, which will begin producing EVs that could be powered by Gogoro’s swappable batteries, they are preparing to be listed on Nasdaq next month.
Taiwan for example will soon have more Gogoro electric scooter battery swap stations (called GoStations) than gas stations, as reported by electrek.co. This just shows that there is potential for LEVs to become more and more popular, in areas where the climate permits all year-round open-air transportation.
All signals show that electric mobility is expanding at a rapid pace. It is an excellent alternative for short routes – from home to the subway, and from the subway to work. It is what experts call the “First mile-last mile issue”, that could be solved by their products.
While we do not try to romanticize walking on a scooter in a blizzard or going on a date on an electric scooter, it is a date and time for everything.
Micromobility is here to stay and help us save some of the problems we are currently facing in our cities. But it might take a long time before the cities will be ready for this trend.
Source:
https://www.wired.com/story/e-scooter-micromobility-infographics-cost-emissions/
https://star.global/posts/micromobility-trends-in-transportation/
https://hbr.org/2019/04/podcast-exponential-view
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