Dockless scooters have been the hype of the past 2 years. In 2018, a Santa-Monica based company called Bird introduced the world to small-sized vehicle-sharing as a solution to the first and last mile challenge. Now, backed by over 500 million USD, the start-up is valued at 2.5 billion USD, and operates their massive fleet of scooters in over 100 cities across North-America and Europe (Hawkins, 2019). Similar companies, such as Lime (US), Scooter (US), and even felyx (NL) were quick to launch their own version of shared mobility.
Although these scooters have faced a lot of frustration and pushback, we shouldn’t deny their huge success. They’ve shown that people are hungry for new modes of transportation. For instance, felyx facilitated 430,000 km in rides in their first year in Amsterdam (Keswiel, 2018). Because of the built-in GPS tracker of scooters, these trips are documented, stored, and very valuable. Given the free-floating nature of the scooters, this trip-level data basically shows the complete travel behavior of citizens in a given city, which public transportation data cannot offer. This is because of its fixed time schedule and routes. Public transportation serves the average citizen, whereas shared mobility has the ability to serve every citizen.
So what are the opportunities? Shared-vehicle mobility companies can leverage this data to build a stronger relationship with municipalities. Essentially, data collected by these companies on the individual trip-level data is valuable real-time feedback on urban city designs (Woyke, 2019). It accurately explains how people move through cities and helps municipalities point out where the pain points from an urban design perspective. Also, it allows municipalities and these companies to work together in deciding on how to tackle the problem of scooters hindering pedestrians and taking up side-walk space. In short, aside from being a complementary service to existing transportation networks of cities, these vehicle-sharing companies can be contributors to urban city design through their business model by selling its data (Stuart, 2019).
Do you guys think that these types of rider data is also valuable in the Netherlands, a country where the bike line infrastructure is already really good. I’d like to hear your thoughts. Thanks.
References
Hawkins, A. J. (2019). Bird raises new funding at 2.5 billion valuation, thanks to longer-lasting scooters. The Verge. Retrieved from: https://www.theverge.com/2019/10/3/20895798/bird-scooter-fundraising-valuation-unit-economics
Keswiel, M. (2018). Deelscooter-startup felyx laat 324 scooters los op Rotterdam, dankzij 3 miljoen euro groeigeld. Retrieved from: https://www.sprout.nl/artikel/startups/deelscooter-startup-felyx-laat-324-scooters-los-op-rotterdam-dankzij-3-miljoen-euro
Stuart, S.C. (2019). How Scooters (and the Data They Collect) Can Transform Cities. Medium. Retrieved from: https://medium.com/pcmag-access/how-scooters-and-the-data-they-collect-can-transform-cities-e5316a7267e7
Woyke, (2019). The Secret Data Collected by Dockless Bike Is Helping Cities Map Your Movement. Medium. Retrieved from: https://medium.com/mit-technology-review/the-secret-data-collected-by-dockless-bikes-is-helping-cities-map-your-movement-54ec6c2b97dc
Hi Leon,
Thanks for this post on quite a controversial topic. I see your point of the chance that the data could be valuable cities, however, couldn’t it also be a huge problem in the first place? Many large cities, such as Copenhagen or Berlin, already complain about massive piles of scooters on sidewalk, drunk teenagers using them at night and many injuries (Guardian, 2019). That is why, I am still a bit sceptical towards this hype, but let’s wait and see how the story evolves..
Hi Wencke, you’re absolutely right! I’ve also read articles about these scooters blocking sidewalks and Lime and Bird scooters being tossed around by drunk people. In fact, I’ve ridden those scooters before in cities where they operate and I’ve seen the issues myself. Those are definitely problems that need be addressed. Many cities across Europe, such as Amsterdam and Barcelone don’t even allow Bird and Lime scooters to launch, because of the point you made.
In my blog I write about felyx, a dutch scooter sharing company. These scooters are in fact mopeds, basically smaller and slower versions of motorcycles. You might have even seen a couple on the Erasmus campus. They are heavier and therefore much harder to toss around or break. Also given its size and weight, people feel more obligated to park them near/next to designated bicycle spots. A good example is the bicycle parking areas at the metro station Kralingse zoom. I often notice, that felyx scooters are parked next to bicycles, therefore not blocking any sidewalks.
According to Woyke (2019), and I agree with her, a solution to this problem is if municipalities around the world that allow shared vehicle mobility solutions, were to leverage the data these companies provide them to determine where the most popular areas are where people leave these vehicles. Following that, they could allocate city space in those areas and encourage people to drop-off the scooters in those areas. In fact, Woyke (2019) says that experts claim that people prefer the reliability of sufficient scooters in pick-up and drop-off locations. I’m really curious to see if shared mobility is here to stay, or whether it’s just a fad.
Hi Leon,
I really like your article. It is definitely an interesting topic and surely also related to Rotterdam with upcoming trends, such as Felyx for instance. In the Netherlands it might not be the case that the data could be used to improve the city’s design by making it more available for cyclists. However, the data could most definitely be used by public transport companies, such as RET to improve on their transportation systems. Transporting people is not about moving people from stop to stop, but more from destination to destination. The journey does not stop after arrived at the tram or metro stop. By locating the public transport’s stop closer to where people need to be would increase the effectiveness of the system. Data gathered by these forms of transportation, as you just mentioned, could yield a bigger picture of where people really need to be and if the tram stop is at the right location.
Hey Bas, good insight! I could totally see value in public transportation companies leveraging this data. Curious to see if a local player in the Netherlands such as felyx will engage in such a relationship with public transportation companies. Thanks for your comment!
Hi Leon,
Thanks for your blog post in the first place! Last summer I was in Copenhagen and saw a lot (business) people riding around the city for their last-mile trips on Lime scooters, so your article immediately got my attention. I think Felyx rider data is also very valuable for the Netherlands with upcoming trends like the sharing economy. The data can be used to relief the infrastructure network and to optimize it further. Although changing the design of the city might be difficult due to space issues there is always room for improvement. However, to prevent issues from happening with regards to accidents, crashes and insurance claims, city regulations need to be adjust to be able make the journey with a Felyx safe for everyone.