Micromobility is one of the most interesting newer developments in personal transport. It’s a (mostly) new mode of transport and it could well be a faster, greener way to get around that lets us make better use of the limited space we have in cities. It’s also a lot more fun! Riding an electric bike or scooter is a more enjoyable and active way to interact with the city around you than being in a car or even on public transport, and that’s why I hope that micromobility becomes a bigger part of everyday travel for more people.
Micromobility is discussed at length, with everything from vehicles littering the street to improvements to rider safety and how multi-modal trips might work all hotly debated. But most discussions of micromobility typically focus on one kind of micromobility offering and this misses a key point: there are three distinct micromobility products available to people. Each has its own customers, business model and future challenges, and the different debates apply to and affect them differently.
What are the three micromobility products? First, there’s shared micromobility - this is a Bird or Lime scooter you see on a street corner, or electric bikes as part of a bikeshare system - you don’t own the vehicle, you just pay per-minute for what you use. Next, there’s owned micromobility - this is a personal scooter or bike that you buy outright - you own it, you pay for it upfront and you’re responsible for it. Finally, there’s rented micromobility. Like an owned vehicle, rental vehicles are exclusively yours to use, but you rent one from a company and pay a monthly fee until you return it. Let’s dig into how the three products differ and who they appeal to.
Shared micromobility is everywhere in many cities; docks filled with bikes and gaggles of brightly-coloured scooters on street corners are most people’s first experience of micromobility. Vehicles are easy to find, unlock and ride, and each ride won’t cost more than a few dollars, so it doesn’t ask for any real commitment from the rider. For most people this will be their entire experience of micromobility: they’ll occasionally grab a scooter to save time walking, have fun with friends, or explore a new city and shared vehicles make all of this easy. Shared micromobility will represent the majority of micromobility users, if not the majority of trips.
That initial ride on a bike or scooter will persuade some people that this could be a better way to get around every day, but if they begin using shared micromobility more heavily, they’ll quickly discover two major problems: it’s convenient, but not convenient enough, and it quickly becomes very expensive.
To show this, imagine using shared micromobility to get to work and assume you’ll commute three miles and you can get there in 20 minutes. Shared micromobility pricing varies by company and city, but each trip will cost $5 to $8, which adds up to between $200 and $320 if you commute twice each day for a month. That’s easily twice the cost of a monthly transit pass and even more expensive than paying for downtown off-street parking in (most) US cities - and doesn’t even account for any other trips beyond commuting that you might want to take, unlike a transit pass.
The convenience of shared vehicles is more nuanced, but still a problem. There are probably a lot of shared vehicles in your city, but there (probably!) isn’t one directly outside your home — shared operators are incentivised to place vehicles where they’re most likely to be used, which often means they’re moved out of residential neighbourhoods.) You might find a vehicle nearby, but if you had to walk half a mile to find the closest one, then that adds 10 minutes to your commute - a 50% increase in total time. The uncertainty of where to find the nearest vehicle makes the trip more complicated and can be a real burden when commuting (though maybe less of a problem at other times.)
In search of something cheaper and more convenient, the solution seems obvious: just buy your own vehicle! This way, you always have a ride when you want one and you quickly begin to save money in our commuting scenario. Scooters cost between $300 and $1,500 and bikes typically range from $1,400 to $3,000, so you’d begin to save money in under a year (with most vehicles), which you can expect to last at least two years and probably longer, especially if you’ve spent more money upfront. The range of vehicles you can buy is broader than the models used for shared micromobility and vehicle manufacturers focus is on the features and comfort that make for a better rider experience - something they’re not afraid to shout about it - rather than the durability and heft needed in a shared vehicles that won’t be treated kindly, and this is an important benefit for the discerning rider willing to spend more money upfront.
But while your own vehicle comes with clear advantages, it also makes you responsible for several things that weren’t your problem, like storage, charging, security and maintenance. The first two are more manageable - most homes and workplaces have room to store bikes and especially scooters and charging is cheap and only needs a wall socket - but the latter two present very real problems.
Bike theft is rampant in many cities and expensive electric vehicles are appealing targets. Several manufacturers include anti-theft features like alarms, GPS tracking and app-based locks (and some even recover or replace stolen vehicles for an additional fee) and there are widely available locks and alarms you can add to any vehicle, but you’ll spend either extra time or money keeping your vehicle safe.
Maintenance is even more complicated. Many bike shops -the best option for local maintenance of traditional bikes - won’t maintain micromobility vehicles (certainly if they weren’t purchased there), putting a premium on the manufacturers or third-party services that do offer maintenance coverage for a fee.
Rented micromobility offers a similar experience to owning a vehicle, but aims to solve the security and maintenance headaches. In this model, you rent a personal vehicle that you can use as if you own it and pay a monthly fee of between $40 and $100 for the privilege. Monthly rentals are a newer offering but an interesting array of companies are beginning to offer the option, from shared micromobility operators like Bird and Revel to vehicle manufacturers like Unagi and even Ridepanda, a third-party recommendation service.
You’re still responsible for storing and charging the rental vehicle, but the company takes on the responsibility of maintenance and provides a replacement vehicle within a day or so when they collect your existing one.
Many companies offer the theft protection features of high-end owned vehicles - locks, alarms and GPS tracking - and many offer full insurance and immediate replacement if your vehicle is stolen, while rental vehicles from shared micromobility operators are less appealing target for thieves as they look just like the shared vehicles also on the street. All of this brings the carefree approach of using shared micromobility to the personal vehicle experience.
Monthly rentals are also less of an upfront commitment than a vehicle you own outright, both in terms of initial cost and making sure you choose the right vehicle. The cost of rentals over time are interesting, with a rental vehicle immediately cheaper than using shared micromobility and being roughly equivalent to the cost of owning a vehicle after a year, but ultimately more expensive after two years. In the same way that shared micromobility introduces many people to micromobility as a whole, I suspect monthly rentals will be the way many casual riders are introduced to using a personal vehicle and more frequent use, as a precursor to buying one outright later on.
As micromobility rebounds after the pandemic and plays a bigger role in how more people get around cities, the three different micromobility products - shared, owned and rented - will each be important. Shared vehicles will introduce people to micromobility - increasingly so in a time when public transit feels less safe - and offer a new option for unplanned journeys, while owned and rented vehicles will provide everyday city travel for early adopters, particularly when more people begin to commute again.
The three products have a lot in common: vehicle reliability, easy maintenance and rider safety are key concerns and all need significant investment in infrastructure like protected bike lanes to appeal to a more riders. But the interesting questions for the future of each are quite different: how should shared micromobility companies work effectively with cities? Can a vehicle manufacturer create a defining brand that people aspire to and that becomes synonymous with micromobility? And will monthly rentals prove to be a attractive offering for cautious vehicle buyers and a profitable approach for companies, or a failed experiment? I look forward to digging into these questions and more as the space evolves.