Philip Rose

Micromobility survived the pandemic restrictions of 2020 and is now seeing huge growth in both shared usage and sales of personal vehicles, but a recent survey suggests even more demand. 70% of respondents would be open to commuting on a micromobility vehicle. So why aren’t they?

‘Micromobility’ covers both shared vehicles, rented by the minute and personal vehicles exclusive to one person, but they’re used for different purposes.

Broadly speaking, people use shared vehicles occasionally and more often for leisure activities and at the weekend, and they’re most often used in place of walking and public transport.¹

Compared to shared vehicles², personal vehicles replace cars much more so than walking and public transport, and they replace many more miles of travel, suggesting more frequent use, probably for different uses such as commuting.

Vehicle sales have boomed since the pandemic started, driven by a clear preference to own a personal vehicle. This still doesn’t add up to 70% of people commuting on a micromobility vehicle, so what’s stopping more people buying their own vehicle?

There will be several good reasons, with (realistic) concerns about safety, too few protected bike lanes and vehicle theft prominent among them. But there are also fundamental ways in which a vehicle purchase is daunting that make it hard to take the plunge.

The initial cost is the obvious one. Vehicles, especially from reputable companies, start at around $600 (USD) for scooters and $1,000 for e-bikes and rise sharply from there; it’s easy to spend $1,000 on a good scooter and more than $2,000 on a bike.

That may end up good value if it’s used daily for years, especially relative to a car, but most people don’t know whether they’ll actually use it that often, leaving it feeling like an expensive, risky investment.

People will have basic questions about how a micromobility vehicle will fit into their lives if they haven’t owned one before. Can I store and charge this safely and easily in my home? And at work? Can I carry it the distance I need to? How and where do I park it?

Most people can answer these questions for a car, but they’re not always easy to guess at for a micromobility vehicle.

They’ll also wonder what they can do with it. It might work well for commuting, but can they use it to go to the supermarket, to go out at night or to do their errands? More importantly, can they ride safely and confidently to do all of these things?

They’ll worry about the vehicle being stolen. Many vehicles don’t include locks or alarms and people are left to rely on Internet recommendations of what to buy, and compatibility with specific vehicles isn’t always clear. (Ridepanda, however, does suggest compatible accessories on vehicle product pages 👏)

When the vehicle needs repairs, the path forward is even less clear. While you can take your car to pretty much any garage and get it fixed, local bike shops are unlikely to repair e-bikes or (especially) scooters, leaving you out of luck unless the manufacturer services vehicles in your city.

Even people who have owned vehicles before, have a preferred brand and a plan for repairs may pause before purchasing. Should I buy something now when there are better vehicles coming soon?

Micromobility is a young industry and vehicles are getting dramatically better year-over-year.

If you start driving a car three years newer than you’re used to, you might see some new small conveniences or safety features (like lane keeping assist or blind spot detection) that weren’t there before.

Micromobility vehicles barely existed three years ago, and new models have considerably better build quality, higher top speeds, much-improved handling and several new convenience features, representing a big leap forward, which we can expect to continue.

It’s especially hard to pull the trigger when manufacturers publicly tease upcoming vehicles to build anticipation. Unagi’s Model One is about the best lightweight scooter around, but the Model Eleven (coming sometime in 2022) offers clear improvements with a full suspension and turn-by-turn directions. VanMoof is the darling of the e-bike world, but $2,000+ for the current S3 and X3 feels steep when the V, with a new design and 50% higher top speed, is coming at the end of the year.

All of this is to say that there are clear questions and uncertainty before buying a micromobility vehicle. What can you do about it?

A ride on a shared scooter can show you that you like riding scooters and it might inspire you to buy one, but it can’t give you a feel for the ownership experience. You don’t have to charge or secure or repair a shared vehicle, and when a newer version is released, you just choose that instead.

You could buy a vehicle and return it within the first month, so you could test it thoroughly and answer most of these questions. That still involves having the money for an expensive purchase and navigating the return process (can you return the vehicle after sustained use over several days, in different conditions? Who pays for and arranges return shipping? etc.) Even if returning it is a viable option, it doesn’t feel simple or approachable.

The best way to answer these questions, remove the uncertainty and help many more people get a personal micromobility vehicle is through subscriptions.

The biggest difference with a subscription is the initial cost to get started and see if the vehicle truly fits into your life. This is the initial commitment someone has to make for this vehicle, and that’s a great way to look at it.

The initial commitment for a subscription is typically the first month’s payment and maybe an initial fee, which is an order of magnitude cheaper than buying a vehicle.

Above: the initial commitment required to try a vehicle from various subscription operators.

Subscription	Zoomo 🇺🇸 Lite plan 🚲	Dance 🇩🇪 Dance One 🚲	Wheels 🇺🇸 Wheels 2.0 🚲	Swapfiets 🇳🇱 Power 1 🚲	Unagi 🇺🇸 Model One 🛴
Minimum commitment	$25 $20/week + $5/week insurance + $150 refundable security deposit3	$67~ €59/month4	$89.99 $89.99/month + $50 refundable security deposit5	$91~ €59.90/month + €19.90 registration fee6	$99 $49/month + $50 setup fee7

Using the vehicle for a month will answer questions of whether you can store, charge, carry and secure it, and confirm whether you can use it for commuting, errands or anything else.

Subscriptions also provide reassurance about theft and maintenance, because the company supplying the vehicle shares your incentive to keep the vehicle safe and operational as they still own the asset.

Every subscription charges you a fee of some sort (often less than the cost of the vehicle) if a vehicle is stolen, but subscription vehicles typically come with electronic (and sometimes also physical) locks, alarms and vehicle tracking, and subscription providers will often work with you to locate and retrieve the vehicle once you’ve filed a police report.

Subscriptions include free maintenance (with limits), often with the provider picking up the vehicle and delivering a new one, which removes the worry and hassle of getting it repaired and gets you back on the road sooner.

Companies selling (high-end) vehicles outright also include coverage for theft and maintenance, but it’s a separate “subscription” on top of the purchase price. In the US, VanMoof offers theft and maintenance coverage for $400 (each) for three years ($11~ per month) and Cowboy offers maintenance for $20 per month.

A separate charge on top of an initial purchase of $2,000 or more makes the decision more complicated (and more expensive!) as it’s hard to reason whether you’ll need the cover. By contrast, including coverage in an overall subscription automatically gives everyone peace-of-mind and one fewer decision to make.

Subscriptions also solve the dilemma of committing to a particular vehicle when better ones will be released soon. Your commitment to the current vehicle only extends a month, so you can upgrade (within the same subscription or by starting a new one) without much hassle.

Subscriptions are unusual; most people don’t pay monthly for a possession that they’ll eventually give back. Unfamiliarity may be the biggest reason they don’t take off, and some people will always prefer owning things outright. (Fortunately, someone will still sell them a bike or scooter!)

For everyone else, subscriptions remove the uncertainty of buying a micromobility vehicle, allow you to explore how the vehicle fits into your life and demand almost no commitment, making them key to broader micromobility adoption.

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Notes