Micromobbin' Let's start the day off with a chortle. Last week's Saturday Night Live featured an e-bike shout-out during the show's "Weekend Update" news anchor skit. "A new report shows that the fastest growing form of electric vehicle is the e-bike, which is particularly popular in cities," said comedian Michael Che. "At this point, experts believe the only thing that can slow these bikes down are car doors." In only a few words, Che sums up the irony behind the growing popularity of e-bikes. Despite increased usage and modal shifts, cars unfortunately remain the kings of the concrete jungle — at least until cities step up and prioritize more egalitarian, greener forms of transport. While a deal to end car emissions by 2040 didn't quite make it to light at COP26, a new report revealed that urban residents need to start making 40% of trips by foot, bike, micromobility or transit within the next 10 years or we won't be able to reach our climate goals. Some cities are making strides. A few cities in the U.S., like Oakland, Bakersfield and Pittsburgh, have started experimenting with "universal basic mobility" pilots that subsidize buses, e-scooters and e-bikes so people can more freely move about. The end goal is to usher in more economic activity to cities. At CoMotion LA, an urban mobility conference, Spin announced it would be one of the micromobility companies to work with local community nonprofits in Bakersfield, like the Dream Center, to identify 100 eligible participants to receive access to free public transit, Spin e-scooters and e-bikes for a year. Bakersfield will be the third UBM pilot Spin is participating in. During the event, Spin also announced a partnership with Blue Systems to provide a data dashboard to select U.S. cities aimed at boosting pedestrian safety and eliminating sidewalk riding and improper parking. Fetch.ai, an AI lab with an open-access decentralized ML network for smart infrastructure, has partnered with Datarella, a blockchain company, to launch the MOBIX Micromobility Marketplace, a platform that will hopefully incentivize users through rewards to use micromobility services. MOBIX users can earn miles by recording micromobility trips, which can then be converted into tokens to be used on future trips or traded at crypto exchanges. Users anywhere can download the app on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. Lime partnered with SafeUP, a community safety network offering guardians for women if they feel unsafe, to provide free rides on Lime scooters and bikes to SafeUP guardians in NYC, LA, San Francisco, Seattle, Miami, Washington, DC, Austin and Tel Aviv. Bird had its first public earnings call since becoming a public company via SPAC. The company's revenues only slightly missed expectations, but the company boosted its guidance for the full-year 2021 period. It's relying on an uptick in commuting and tourism, as well as an easing of supply chain constraints. Australian startup Zoomo raised a $60 million Series B to expand its e-bike subscription service. The company offers e-bikes for gig workers or enterprise fleets, and wants to disrupt the last-mile delivery industry. Zembo, a French startup with operations in Uganda selling e-motorcycles through a lease-to-own program, raised $3.4 million to begin scaling operations across Africa. It's backed by Mobility 54, a corporate VC subsidiary of Toyota Tsusho Corp, which will leverage Toyota's automotive footprint to help Zembo expand. Superpedestrian is the latest micromobility operator to be featured on the Moovit app, following behind Lime, Spin and Bird. Now, Moovit users planning trips with the app will be able to find LINK scooters where available. Lyft is expanding its partnership with Mastercard in the Bay Area to include bikeshare. Mastercard will help Bay Wheels, which is available on the Lyft app, build an additional 35 bikeshare stations next year. Also in San Francisco, Scoot/Bird have teamed up with Scootaround to pilot an accessible mobility program in the city. Initially piloted in the Bronx, the program allows riders with disabilities to find, reserve and pay for one of three accessible vehicle types. Tier bought Nextbike, a German bike-sharing platform, signaling both the company's commitment to a multimodal approach and, perhaps, more micromobility consolidations in the future. Electric scooter maker Niu has hinted it would be expanding its urban mobility portfolio at EICMA, or the Milan Motorcycle show, next week. This sounds like it could be a new type of vehicle, and Electrek is guessing it might be the company's three-wheeled canopied scooter concept, which was revealed at CES 2020. Fingers crossed! The micromobility world really needs a solution for rainy days. – Rebecca Bellan |
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