The Future of Micromobility

The Future of Micromobility

By Sam Jones, Micromobility Director at Serco

Here at Serco, we have long and proud history of providing micromobility solutions for Government. We bring our expert knowledge and extensive experience?of partnering with Local Authorities?to?help deliver?the maximum social and commercial value from cycle hire schemes.

We passionately believe that micromobility is a win-win for everyone; the public, the scheme provider, and the Authority too - when it’s delivered in a sustainable way.


What does sustainable look like?

The schemes we run are designed for longevity utilising the highest quality assets. We are a design and delivery partner to Government; this means that we work in collaboration with our partners to design, build and operate sustainable last mile solutions.

We’re currently the largest UK provider in terms of the number of bikes; with over 14,000 cycles and e-bikes pedalling around the towns and cities where we live. Our schemes demonstrate the widely recognised health and wellbeing outcomes and the positive environmental benefits that can be achieved through the introduction of cycle hire.


How we help our partners

We use our expertise to design, mobilise and run high quality schemes that are integrated into the public transport network.

Through this integration we have been able to support partners to:

  • Meet their policy objectives around net zero targets, congestion and the health and wellbeing of their citizens.
  • Impact positive modal shift towards cycling.
  • Support authorities to maximise their brand values through attracting lucrative sponsorship partners.


The current marketplace

However, there are currently some common and recurring challenges that we face in the industry that prevent mass adoption and a material increase of micromobility as a transport mode share these are:

  1. Commercial viability. Most schemes in the UK receive no, or little, public-sector funding. This leaves service providers fighting for market share. Ultimately, we can’t see how this short-term approach can be sustainable.
  2. Accessibility and equity. With limited funding comes micromobility concessions; this is a model whereby service providers assume full revenue risk and centre their schemes predominantly in the most profitable regions. This often ends with availability skewing towards the more affluent areas which defeats one of the key objectives of cycle hire. That of improving accessibility to sustainable transport and supporting inclusivity.

We’ve witnessed this first-hand with the scheme we operated in Edinburgh from 2018-2021. At the end of our contract, we were not able to continue the scheme due to factors outside of our control. ?Despite good scheme adoption and positive sentiment towards cycle hire operating costs were too high meaning it became non-viable to continue.


Rolling it out

In 2021 we launched a scheme with the West Midlands Combined Authority covering all 7 Local Authorities. In the first year it amassed over 200,000 journeys, 65,000 users and offset approximately 15 tonnes of CO2.

Central to the West Midlands model is our integration with the region’s travelcard app; this plays a vital step in joining up public transport options. Users can plan and pay for journeys covering cycle hire, bus, train, and trams enabling them to see how cycle hire fits into their wider travel plans. And it’s working – within the first year 17% of surveyed users told us that cycle hire replaced a private car or taxi trip for them.

Our 8-year contract in the West Midlands is reminiscent of the long-term contract we have with TfL. Management contracts such as these give both the service provider and Local Authority the confidence to invest and develop to guarantee a long-term transport service. With this can come greater cost-efficiencies, the ability to expand networks and enhanced public adoption.


So, what’s the future of micromobility?

To take the adoption of micromobility to the next level we argue that it needs to be delivered more like a public transport service, where the service provider is incentivised to be accessible, affordable, and safe. Schemes that have a level of Authority ownership are a good way to achieve this as it forms a genuine aligned partnership with the Authority and provider.

Delivered successfully like this society will reap the benefits. Improved health and wellbeing of our communities, less congestion, cleaner air and maybe, most importantly, we’ll see real behaviour change. When these improvements are not just temporary, but they are sustained, that’s when we will see and feel the real benefits brought by sustainable micromobility solutions.

Find out more at Serco Micromobility solutions

About the author, Sam Jones.



Sam Jones, Micromobility Director for Serco, has worked within the sector for over 10 years. In a variety of roles from analytics to operations, Sam has overseen scheme expansions, sponsorship changes, contract extensions, and record-breaking hires year after year. Prior to this he worked in software consulting, delivering radar management programmes for the Ministry of Defence in UK.


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