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Two-Wheel Mobility Addresses Urban Congestion and Pollution Challenges |
NEWS |
Two-wheel micromobility is taking on many forms as it spreads across the globe, from soon to be ubiquitous dockless electric scooters for short-term rental from the likes of Lime, Bird, and JUMP to motorbike ridesharing from Grab in Southeast Asia that includes the additional convenience of a driver. Thailand is even considering legalizing privately owned two-wheel vehicle ridesharing, such as GrabBike. At the same time, traditional docked bike-sharing, deployed across many cities over the past decade, is quickly evolving into dockless electric bike-sharing, for obvious convenience reasons. Larger electric motorbikes are now also becoming available for short term rental in many cities across Europe.
The shift toward electric micromobility not only allows the replacement of regular taxis and car sharing (and, to a lesser extent, car ownership) with two-wheel vehicles that are able to use the road space more flexibly and efficiently and thereby reduce congestion, but is also expected to contribute to the reduction of air pollution, which is quickly becoming a key concern in megacities across the globe. Even shifting as little as 10% of existing car traffic to micromobility options can go a long way toward addressing some of the worst instances of congestion and pollution.
Operational Challenges and How Technology Can Help Solve Them |
IMPACT |
Despite the rapid rise of micromobility, multiple operational challenges remain:
The challenges outlined above somewhat compromise the future of micromobility in cities, both in terms of operational complexities and the impact of associated costs on profitability. Future driverless carsharing and smart mobility help mitigate these issues. Driverless cars can be programmed to independently go back to charging locations when needed or be parked outside city centers during off-peak times. Future dynamic wireless charging infrastructure will allow them to be charged while in operation, but this will not be feasible for two-wheel vehicles. Additionally, driverless cars will be inherently safer due to advanced machine vision technology and better protection of their passengers. Finally, driverless cars will be far more convenient, requiring neither a driver nor the user having to drive him or herself. However, for two-wheel assets there is no realistic outlook for autonomous/driverless operation.
Lack of Profitability Is the Biggest Threat to the Future of Micromobility |
RECOMMENDATIONS |
As outlined above, micromobility players are facing numerous operational and regulatory challenges. The biggest issue they are facing in the longer term—not unlike their four-wheel vehicle ridesharing operator counterparts—is how to turn new smart mobility solutions into profitable operations. After the initial Venture Capital (VC)-driven hype in 2018, with a wave of acquisitions of micromobility companies including Uber acquiring bikeshare startup JUMP, the first reality check and fallout is already happening, most notably with bike-sharing operators. In China, Ofo and Mobike face cash flow issues and have already downsized their operations. The biggest victim seems to be bike-sharing, with operators pulling out of cities at an alarming rate.
Consolidation is already happening, with Lime recently acquiring Scoot, enlarging its geographic footprint. Clearly, micromobility players will only be able to survive if they build ultra-efficient and super lean organizations by heavily relying on all possible next-generation technologies while at the same time maximizing scale and reach. Combining two-wheel vehicle sharing with other types of mobility can improve overall profitability as well.
However, despite all of these issues and challenges, micromobility is here to stay not as the solution to all urban mobility issues, but as a key paradigm for sustainably solving the ultra-last mile conundrum in urban contexts. It will become a critical component of a wider smart mobility offer that combines and integrates many transportation options, including transit under a seamless Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) roof. This also means pure VC plays will be replaced by Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) through which the public and private sectors will jointly fund and operate these aggregated mobility services.