Movements | May 29th, 2020

Post-COVID ridership data, new hardware, and much more...

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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