Issue #94 - Brought to you by Michal Naka and Adam Feldman. Join thousands of others who receive this analysis and curation of emerging mobility news in their inbox every week — subscribe now.
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Micromobility
Ebike maker VanMoof thought their analytics was broken, but it turns out they had an unprecedented explosion in demand. | Bloomberg
Bakcou: eBikes for hunters. | Bakcou
Cake is bringing Swedish design to electric motorcycles in the USA. | Techcrunch
BlaBlaCar will be integrating Voi scooters into its carpool app in France. | Voi
A music producer sampled Spin’s scooter alarm… check out the result. | Twitter
Uber is scrapping thousands of JUMP bikes after executing its investment deal with Lime. | The Verge
Tier’s CEO offers to take on as many JUMP eBikes as possible from Uber and Lime. | Lawrence Leuschner
Our friends at Dott shared some interesting post-COVID usage stats with the movements family:
Dott’s fleet is now back to the same level pre-Covid in 24 hours in all cities
Monday May 11 = Monday March 9, same number of rides
Now, Dott sees higher usage vs January, February and the beginning of March. Even if bars and restaurants are still closed in some countries.
Paris utilization is at 4 rides per vehicle per day.
Product Launches & Updates
Gogoro revealed its brand new ultra lightweight 27.5 pound ‘eeyo’ eBike. | The Verge
Bird launched a new one-tap ‘Quick Start’ feature. “No need to scan the QR code: Quick Start will automatically detect when a Bird vehicle is within range and offer riders the opportunity to unlock it with the tap of a button.” | Bird
US shared micromobility operator Bolt rolled out a leasing option for consumers in NYC, starting at $99 a month. | Bolt
Micromobility IoT maker Comodule announced its own fleet scooter with a claimed lifespan of 60-months. | Comodule
Lime partnered with insurance giant Allianz in Europe. “The insurance program automatically provides Lime riders with two types of insurance: Personal Accident Insurance, and Liability Insurance, at no extra cost.” | Allianz
Acton patented self-sanitizing hand grips. | KVTN
Electric longboard maker Unlimited released an eBike kit that allows you to convert your favorite pedal bike into an electric bike. | Unlimited
Ridehailing, Carsharing, & Delivery
Are food delivery companies awful businesses? “Restaurant delivery services including DoorDash and Uber Eats have gotten a lot of heat lately—and a lot of questions about the viability of their businesses. But the leading companies in the field are figuring out how to operate with greater efficiency.” | The Information
Instacart’s CTO outlines how they scaled their services during the COVID pandemic. | Instacart
Daimler and BMW’s FreeNow partners with Voi to integrate their scooters into their ridehailing app. | Cristoph Egels
Investment & Deals
European ridehailing firm Bolt raised $110 million. | Bloomberg
Former Lime exec, Scott Kubly, raised $3.5 million for an on demand camper van startup: Cabana vans. Investors include Bird CEO Travis VanderZanden and Ford’s Sunny Madra. | Techcrunch
Cities & Policy
The UK government is offering vouchers to help people get their bikes repaired. | Cycling Weekly
Nexar Mobility Report. | Nexar
Calgary led Lime’s global markets in post-COVID ridership with 7 trips per vehicle per day. | DailyHive
“A quarter of all Europeans are now willing to commute to work by e-bike.” | Bike EU
The collapse of rush hour: “Peak (rush hour) demand has fallen much more than all-day demand, mirroring a change in travel demand overall.” | Jarrett Walker
Jobs
VanMoof is hiring a digital product designer in Amsterdam. | VanMoof
Pony is hiring a CTO and Head of VehicleEngineering. | Pony
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