Movements | November 12, 2021
The popularity of e-bikes, rideshare is back and
Issue [#115] - Every week, we deliver analysis and curation of emerging mobility news - submit a story here.
Heads up on a cool new event - Curbivore is coming to Los Angeles on 1/28/21, with Uber Eats as a presenting sponsor. Get your early bird ticket asap - prices go up on Tuesday!
Micromobility
E-bikes are everywhere, with the pandemic boosting sales 145% from 2019 to 2020. One of the biggest obstacles for mass e-bike adoption in the United States? Safety and infrastructure. Don’t e-scooters deserve some of the credit for popularizing e-bikes though? For many people, they were the gateway to light electric vehicles, like e-bikes. | New York Times h/t David Zipper
Allbirds (BIRD) stole Bird’s ticker symbol but the latter still managed to snag ‘BRDS’ and go public. The stock is currently down about $1 from it’s opening price of $8.40.
Lyft’s new e-bike is one of the best inventions of 2021. | TIME
Last mile delivery has exploded over the past couple years but most deliveries are made by diesel vans and ICE cars. Micromobility is obviously a solution here but the neat thing is that there are a lot of form factors beyond e-bikes that could be appealing to platforms - mini EVs, cargo e-bikes, even e-scooters are being used by companies like Duffl in Los Angeles to deliver convenience goods to UCLA students in 10 minutes or less.. | Sifted
The OG micromobility vehicle. | MyChinaTrip
New Products, Features and Data Points
Can’t wait for my first ride in a true driverless car. This looks thrilling but also nerve-wracking. Also, curious to see how this car will fare during rush hour in downtown SF. | Oliver Cameron (Cruise)
CoMotion LA is happening next week (11/16-18) in Los Angeles and we’ve got one free ticket to giveaway. Just hit reply and let us know why you should get one!
Ridehailing & Last Mile Delivery
Uber’s global rideshare business is about 85% recovered compared to pre-pandemic: workday: 95% recovered, commute: 90% recovered, party / fun times: <80% recovered, airports: 67% recovered. It seems workday/commute are pulling from other sources like public transit. And probably no surprise that airports are down with lots of businesses cutting back on travel. | Tanay Jaipuria
It’s also crazy that Uber has been around for more than 11 years. Do you remember what the app used to look like? | Garrett Camp
A wild story about Drizly, Uber, DoorDash, stolen tips and a third party merchant. | Chad Dickerson
Wolt may not be well known in the US but apparently they’re big in places like Europe and Israel - and DoorDash is paying $8 billion to buy them. | TechCrunch
New York City is becoming the biggest laboratory for ultra fast delivery service - but not everyone thinks this is a sustainable or scalable business model. | New York Times
Investments and Deals
Lime recently raised $523 million in anticipation of going public next year, and CEO Wayne Ting says it will use the capital to invest in its decarbonization efforts, among other priorities. | TechCrunch
Rivian IPO’d this week at an absurd valuation. For a great deep dive on the financials, check out Sustainable Mobility and Newcomer (paywall).
So that’s how Revel financed that fleet of Teslas - it was all Inspiration! | TechCrunch
In India, two wheel vehicles are a version of a status symbol as well as a practical way to get around. River is a new company that recently created an electric version of the two-wheel scooter. | TechCrunch
Cities & Policy
This twenty year truck driver tells us why America’s ‘shipping crisis’ won’t be ending anytime soon. | Medium
The Department of Justice is suing Uber for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act, charging that Uber violated the ADA by charging passengers with disabilities “wait time” fees. | Gizmodo
Italy has announced new restrictions on scooter riders, including a reduction in maximum speed and prohibitions on riding or parking on pavement. | The Local h/t Shared Micromobility
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