Movements | November 20th, 2019

Issue #73 -  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

The US and China *may* agree to end tariffs on eBikes (and other micromobility devices), however no agreement has been signed yet. “The original tariffs set by the Trump administration levied an additional 25% tariffs on electric bicycles and e-bike components imported from China.” | Electrek

Micromobility at the US Federal level: The chair of the House Highways and Transit subcommittee claims to be “writing scooters into the next surface transportation reauthorization bill”.  | Eleanor Holmes Norton

The City of Berlin moves forward with designated parking spots for cargo bikes and electric scooters | Berlin (Translation)

Mobike raises prices in China. | TechNode

Shared scooters in cities are fueling the market for personal scooters. “RazorUSA President Jim Wagner said in a statement that the company has “experienced an increased interest in owning Razor kick scooters and e-scooters” and has had “even higher interest” in cities where it operates its own dockless e-scooter rentals.”  | Morning Consult

Investments & Deals

Culdesac raises $10m to build car-free neighborhoods. | Medium

Scooter consolidation: shared scooter company Ojo acquires micromobility operator Gotcha. “By 2020, the combined company plans to deploy 25,000 “mobility units” in 80 locations for both ride-sharing and on-demand delivery services.” | The Verge

Superpedestrian raises $20 million as they prepare to roll out fleet scooters. | Venture Beat

Ridehailing & Carsharing

Uber’s Chief Product Officer, Manik Gupta, is stepping down. | TechCrunch

Gett is shutting down Juno. | TechCrunch

Didi says they have nearly 1 million electric vehicles on its platform. Plus, the company is partnering with OEMs to develop purpose built electric ridehailing vehicles. | TechNode

Hyundai is set to launch a carsharing product and mobility services in the USA. | News Market

Dubai Transport Authority signed a contract with ridehailing firm Careem (acquired by Uber) to roll out 3500 bikeshare vehicles across the city. | Gulf News

Lyft threatens to leave the Phoenix Airport after the City plans to hike ridehailing fees. | Sal DiCiccio

Product Launches & Updates

Tranzito launches Mobi: curbside management and mobility hub for cities. | Tranzito

ShareNow (formerly Car2go) launches a new app in Vienna with both Mercedes and BMW carshare vehicles. | Fabian Heuwieser

Lyft is pulling scooters from 6 markets. | TechCrunch

Bird introduces ‘Birdie”, a kick scooter for kids. | Bird

Bolt Bikes launches its e-bike subscription platform for gig workers to the US and the UK, with pilots in San Francisco and London. | TechCrunch

Apple’s new maps expand to the midwest and west coast of the USA. | Justin O’beirne

Bird launches a #HelmetSelfieMode feature that rewards riders for wearing a helmet. | Bird

Cities & Policy

Curbflow shows that allowing drivers to reserve curb space reduces double parking. | Washington Post

Washington DC to step up bike lane parking enforcement. “The Department of Public Works (DPW) currently has 272 parking enforcement officers who cover 109 locations throughout the city, and each location now will have at least one officer solely dedicated to bike lane enforcement, with special attention to vehicles blocking bike lanes.“ | SmartCityDive

The majority of vehicle buyers are over the age of 54. “In 2007, a majority of buyers (53%) were age 35 to 54, while in 2017 a majority (52%) were age 55 and older.” | Green Car Congress