The Challenges of Technology for Micromobility
Lessons Learned from the Implementation of Micromobility in Latin America
By Gabriel Ribeiro Reis, Product Manager at Tembici
When talking about shared bicycles, we are primarily dealing with the sharing economy, which has been growing in recent years and becoming a trend in various sectors. The sharing economy, also known as collaborative economy, is when people share resources and goods instead of exclusively owning them.
The main objective of sharing is to make the use of goods more efficient. For example, a private car spends most of its time in garages and parking lots, while sharing can reduce the consumption of production resources since we need to manufacture fewer vehicles. Additionally, there is a lower need for public space and a more efficient use of goods, which contributes to the sustainability and rationality of natural resource usage, many of which already scarce.
The sharing economy is made possible thanks to current technologies. With the emergence of new mobile technologies such as smartphones and the internet, it has become possible to enable a new industry of services, especially for urban mobility. The sector still faces several technological challenges that need to be overcome for innovation to progress, but many of the problems encountered are shared with other industries. Therefore, to stand out in the market, it is necessary to know when to adapt technologies to generate value for the market.
Micromobility and the Global Scenario
The emergence of micromobility with its bicycles and scooters has changed the way people commute in urban areas. This mode of transportation has become popular among individuals seeking convenient, environmentally-friendly, and affordable short-distance travel options. Especially after the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of bicycles on the streets has increased significantly.
Available in major cities, shared bicycle systems are a clear demonstration of the strength of this movement towards greater accessibility of micromobility. For example, in 2022, the Bike Sampa system in the city of São Paulo experienced a 60% increase in trips made with its 260 stations scattered throughout the city center.¹
A system like the one mentioned faces challenges that can be observed in any other modern city. From government regulations regarding the use of public space to vandalism of assets deployed in public areas, the market utilizes technology to solve the obstacles encountered.
Operation of Physical Assets in Public Environment in Latin America
Specifically within the Latin American scenario, some obstacles become even more evident. For example, unlike the situation in North America and Europe, Latin American cities have a mobile network infrastructure with more limited resources, often with coverage issues even within major capitals.
This is not something new, and aware of this particular situation, global companies develop applications with less memory and data usage for the context of developing countries. Instagram Lite, for instance, was launched in 2018 by the company of the same name and was later withdrawn from the market in 2020 after its main application underwent significant changes to adapt to the scenario of lower data network availability.
Similarly, sharing systems in Latin America face the challenge of users who, when deciding to use a shared bicycle or scooter, head to the street to start their journey in areas without Wi-Fi or good mobile internet network connection.
Through analyses conducted with Tembici’s user base, which operates a bicycle sharing system in over 10 cities in Latin America, we know that 8 out of 10 customers have their first contact with the system within a maximum of 300 meters from a station. This implies that often the cyclist did not plan in advance in a location with Wi-Fi, and will likely have to download the application for registration just before riding.
That being said, another alternative found to facilitate access to the system is integration with other modes of transportation already used in the city. From public transport cards that allow easy bike pick-up to integrations with urban private transport applications like Uber. Since the majority of users already have this other mode of transportation, there is no need for another application or plastic card for using the system.
Simple Solutions for Complex Problems
With the increasing use of smartphones, improvement of mobile networks, and advancements in devices with more data processing capabilities, users expect everything to work quickly, simply, and without complications. When we look at this expectation and the micromobility landscape, we encounter some additional challenges:
- Vehicles and stations deployed in public locations must have high-speed internet connectivity for users to interact with the system.
- These assets must have internal processing capabilities to communicate with the network and interact with the user.
- In order to have an affordable and secure solution for users, it is not feasible to use high-powered electronic components with greater processing power and memory, which also come at a higher market value.
Similar to how your mobile device may take longer to open a large document compared to your laptop, an embedded device (as the electronics installed in vehicles and stations are called) has even more restrictive limitations. When combined with the possibility of instability in the mobile network infrastructure, it is necessary to develop intelligent solutions that ensure users’ expectations are not compromised, even in adverse situations.
There are several possible solutions to this problem, but the application of technological resources is best utilized when we reduce the complexity of the proposed solution. It is possible to develop mechanisms for fault detection and immediate reconnection, for example, but the complexity and resources allocated can be costly. Another possible approach is to reduce the number of steps required in the user experience.
With the technology available in the market, it is possible to streamline the registration process, turning an extensive form into just a few pages with a few fields. During the trip initiation, the number of system interactions can be reduced by using QR code stickers or even unlocking cards (as mentioned before).
This way of thinking not only makes it easier for people who want to commute but also significantly improves business metrics because simplifying the user experience always leads to higher conversion rates when considering the entire journey. This is not new in the world of digital products, but we should also apply this concept to hybrid products in micromobility, which are both digital and physical.
