Business: Experiment with additional revenue?sources (4/6)

The current lockdown period has forced shared mobility operators to experiment with a variety of different commercial offerings. Already barely profitable before the pandemic hit, they’ve now been pushed to find innovative sources of revenue.

Companies such as Voi, Dott, and Gotcha have launched B2B partnerships, offering up their fleets to ferry goods to those sheltering in place around the world. Despite their limited capacity to carry cargo, these vehicles have been useful in the delivery of, among other things, pharmaceutical products, groceries, and takeout. This is a risky experiment for these companies however: as operators are offering access to their vehicles at a discount in these partnerships, their margins will get even thinner.

Another option for companies is to pivot to the offer of longer-term rentals (daily, monthly, etc.), which would allow them to eliminate the time-consuming disinfection between riders required under their normal model (see Section 1), and would still ensure good rates of vehicle usage. Despite potential advantages, this option is still very much in the beta testing phase, as evidenced by the major price discrepancies among the monthly rental offers from Pony (US $43), Spin (US $60) and Wheels (US $89). These might serve as good “try before you buy” options for riders; both Wheels and Pony (through its Adopt A Pony program) are also now selling their vehicles directly to consumers.

As regular commuting will represent a greater share of ridership as the lockdown eases up, operators can work directly with companies keen on offering their employees alternatives for getting to the office. Launching B2B offers is another effective way to attract new riders, as their employers would subsidize subscriptions or ride credits. In Paris, Velib and Cityscoot have released “Pro” offers in anticipation of the end of the confinement period; Voi and Tier had already had these sorts of offers available, though their conditions were not publicly disclosed.

By Alexandre Gauquelin (Shared Micromobility) and Julien Chamussy (fluctuo)

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