Shared Mobility Round-up: October

Welcome to our shared mobility round-up, where we will be collating all the top shared transportation articles and headlines every month! ??????

IN THE NEWS THIS MONTH

MICROMOBILITY

Tier Mobility-owned Spin lays off about 10% of workforce, exits two markets - October 3rd, 2022?

Spin, has laid off about 10% of its staff — including a number of executives — and is exiting Canada and Seattle. About 78 people, the majority of whom are white-collar workers based in its San Francisco headquarters, have been laid off.

Bolt’s scooter ridership more than doubled in summer 2022 - September 29th, 2022?

Bolt has announced that the number of scooter rides from June to August 2022 have doubled across all its markets in comparison to the same period in 2021. Bolt has also recently introduced new scooter charging solutions, such as the in-house developed charging docks. The docks have been successfully tested in Tallinn and are now being deployed in Portugal and Lithuania. The company has scaled its shared scooter operations from 170 cities at the beginning of 2022 to more than 260 cities right now.

NYC Proposal Offers Cash for Spotting Parking Violations in Bike Lanes - September 29th, 2022?

A bill that would allow New Yorkers to collect bounties (25% of a proposed $175 ticket) for reporting bike-lane blockers is aimed at curtailing illegal parking. But some worry about unintended consequences, including that the proposed law could lead to violent conflicts between drivers and civilians reporting illegally parked cars.?

A bike lane on Sixth Avenue in New York City, where lawmakers are weighing a proposal to let residents report drivers who park illegally.?Photo by: Lindsey Nicholson/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images.

Veolia is deploying a fleet of street cleaning e-bikes across Westminster, London - September 30th, 2022?

The 14 new e-bikes have joined over 60 electric cleaning and collection vehicles that already operate in Westminster. By adding e-bikes to this fleet, Veolia has further cut the number of diesel vehicles it is operating within the borough. With this deployment of e-bikes, Veolia aims to change the standard for collection and street cleaning operations.

Electric scooters may say goodbye in France in 2023 - September 27th, 2022?

Paris may soon say goodbye to public electric scooters. According to reports from The Parisianthe contracts of the three operators Lime, Dott and Tier will expire at the beginning of 2023 and the mayor of the French capital, had an appointment with the companies last week to reflect on what to do. The considerations on the dangerousness of using the vehicles follows a deadly accident in Lyon.

Amazon plans to double ‘micromobility hub’ footprint - October 10th, 2022?

Amazon currently has micromobility hubs in more than 20 cities across Europe, including London, Munich and Paris, and expects to double that figure by the end of 2025. The hubs are part of a wider investment by Amazon of more than €1 billion (￡880m) over the next five years to further electrify and decarbonise its transportation network across Europe. The online retailer said it would invest ￡300m in the UK.?

Bird publishes independently-verified report measuring the GHG emissions and Life Cycle Assessment for the Bird Three electric scooter -?October 10th, 2022?

The report shows that the Bird Three has a?lifespan of up to five years after refurbishment?and is one of the lowest emitters of?greenhouse gases in Europe when compared?to public transport and other shared modes.?Travellers in European cities who take a Bird?Three account for an average of approximately?21% less greenhouse gas emissions per?kilometre than taking the metro, 77% less?than driving a gas-powered car and 87% less?than taking a ride-hail car, said Bird.?

MobilityData takes over micromobility?open-data standard -?October 4th, 2022?

After three years of partnership, the North American Bikeshare & Scootershare Association (NABSA) has transferred the General Bikeshare Feed Specification (GBFS) to MobilityData. Incubated at the RMI in 2015, MobilityData became a Canadian non-profit in 2019 with the mission to ease travel through shared data and information.?

Cities around the world offered chance to win $1m to build cycle lanes - October 10th, 2022?

Cities around the world will have the chance to compete for $1m (￡902,000) in funding as well as expertise to build new cycling infrastructure under a plan launched by the charitable foundation set up by Mike Bloomberg. Under the scheme, launched last Monday, 10 cities will be awarded up to $1m each to create safe cycling routes, and will also be given help designing the schemes and on engaging with residents and potential opposition.

Mike Bloomberg, whose charitable foundation will provide the funding, pioneered new bike lanes in New York in his time as mayor.?Photograph: Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Images

RIDE SHARING

Motional and Uber announce 10-year driverless agreement - October 7th, 2022?

Uber Technologies has entered an agreement to offer fully driverless rides on its ride-hail and delivery networks using Motional’s all-electric Ioniq 5-based robotaxis. The companies will strategically deploy the service in cities across the US, with the first trips expected to start later this year. The announcement represents an expansion of the Motional and Uber partnership, following a collaboration on delivery.

CAR SHARING

Car Sharing Marketplace Turo Launches Down Under - October 18th, 2022?

Turo, the world’s largest peer-to-peer car sharing marketplace, announced today it is launching in Australia. Local car owners can now join the waitlist. This launch in Australia marks the company’s second international expansion this year and its first in APAC. This expansion, coupled with Turo’s acquisition of OuiCar in France and its launch in New York State earlier this year, is a tremendous milestone for the brand. Turo has been making major investments in personnel and geographic expansion, and has grown rapidly over the last 10 years — spanning over 9,500 cities, with over 125,000 active hosts and 250,000 active vehicles on the platform as of June 30, 2022.

MOBILITY-AS-A-SERVICE

Wunder Mobility scoops up €12 million to strengthen SaaS platform - October 6th, 2022?

Hamburg-based startup Wunder Mobility that provides shared mobility (from fleet management to smart shuttles) services has received €12 million of additional funding from investors including KCK and Blumberg Capital. Working with clients like HumanForest and Levy, Wunder is now active in more than 200 cities globally, hosts over 50,000 vehicles on its platform and has had over 40 million rides shared.

Dutch cities team to optimize shared mobility - October 11th, 2022?

The Dutch cities of Amsterdam, Utrecht and Eindhoven have partnered with Vianova to help bridge the communication gap between public authorities and mobility operators. The cities want to define the best policies and urban planning for new mobility services through actionable data insights.

App by The Routing Company offers on-demand transit and end-to-end planning - October 14th, 2022?

TRC is a global on-demand vehicle routing and management platform that partners with cities. Pingo Journey is a new feature within its Ride Pingo app that lets passengers hail on-demand transit rides and plan their transit journeys in one place. Pingo Journey can operate in on-demand, paratransit, fixed-route, and flex transit mode. When used by transit agencies, it allows riders to see all public transit options in the area – including hailing on-demand rides, connecting to fixed transit routes, requesting paratransit rides, or planning a trip using fixed (or deviated fixed) lines.