Movements | April 16th, 2019
Issue #43 — 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.
Micromobility
Chicago City Council grants Lyft a 9 year exclusive deal for bikeshare in the Windy City. | Sun Times
JUMP quietly launches a redesigned standalone rider app for eBikes and scooters based on the Uber app. Related: JUMP begins testing a contractor app ‘JUMP Starter’. | JUMP
Lyft recalls all its eBikes in DC, NYC, and San Francisco after riders crashed when the front brakes locked up. Uber says it fixed its electric bikes that had similar problems. | NYT
Spanish micromobility startup Movo raised a $22.5 million Series A. The company is a subsidiary of ridehailing firm Cabify. | Techcrunch
Electric micromobility manufacturer Inboard scraps plans to sell its new G1 Glider scooter to consumers and will now focus exclusively on fleet operators. “Inboard will offer an API that lets bigger companies tie their existing apps and fleet management systems to the data coming off the scooters.” Related: Boosted Board teases it’s first electric scooter model. | The Verge
Biodegradable scooters. | Mike Kruzeniski
Singapore scooter startup Telepod, partners with food delivery company Foodpanda and convenience store chain Buzz to build a swappable battery network for its scooters. “With Televery, they can swap out an empty battery and replace it with a fully charged one for S$3 (US$2.21). Telepod claims the process of changing batteries is made fast and easy by its patent-pending ‘quick-swap’ feature.” | Tech in Asia
Product Launches & Updates
Transit app launches mobile ticketing with Masabi in Ontario. | Masabi
Uber launches Vouchers, a service to enable businesses to pay for free or subsidized trips on behalf of their customers. | The Verge
In an effort to fix long waits at airport pickup lines, Lyft brings back taxi lines in a pilot at San Diego airport. “Instead of matching with a driver, riders nabbing a regular Lyft will hop in a physical line at the airport and match up with a driver irl.” | Techcrunch
Grab launches ‘Venues’, that gives rides in-app photos and text directions to pickup points closest to them. | Grab
Scooter Map launches a Scooter App. | Product Hunt
Lyft announced that they will soon be adding a feature to their mobile apps that allow users to find and unlock Citi Bikes in NYC. | Lyft
VW’s MOIA launches ridesharing in Hamburg with 100 custom electric minibuses. | Electrive
Cities & Policy
San Diego is installing 330 parking corrals for scooters and bikes in red zones where cars cannot park. | ABC 10
San Francisco is poised to double the number of scooters on the streets from 1,250 to 2,500. Skip CEO Sanjay Dastoor on San Francisco’s scooter cap: “Even doubling the number won’t create the level of reliability that residents and visitors expect to be able to depend on this as a mode of transportation.” | SF Chronicle
China’s first subways to use facial recognition for fare collection are here. | Matthew Brennan
Boston’s MBTA launches a pilot program to provide Uber and Lyft with subsidies to increase the availability of wheelchair accessible vehicles.“TNCs will be reimbursed on a weekly basis by the MBTA according to the number of “WAV Supply Hours,” which is a measure of the availability of wheelchair-accessible vehicles for use by customers. The expected annual cost of this one-year pilot is approximately $2.4 million; the goal if this pilot is to quadruple the WAV supply hours.” | Metro
Ridehailing
More than 82% of the US population — upwards of 268 million people — lives in an area where Uber operates as of 2018. | Uber
A fascinating look at how SoftBank is working to shape the future of mobility across ridehailing, AVs, auto, and logistics. | Reuters
And in case you’ve been living under a rock, Uber has released their S-1. It’s full of interesting details about their business. What stood out to you? | SEC
If you enjoy reading “Movements,” click here to tweet to tell others about it.
All views are our own.
