Micromobility

In today's packed episode, Oliver interviews Dmitry Shevelenko, CEO of Tortoise, an autonomous scooter software company about the potential of self driving scooters in clearing clutter, improving economics and unlocking the suburbs for shared micromobility. Specifically we dig into: - Dmitry's background at Uber leading business development in micromobility, and how that led him to coming across his co-founder. - The promise and potential of self rebalancing micromobility networks, and how that is appealing to operators and regulators. - Why they're pursuing a horizontal strategy in the space, and why that's required based on the industry structure. - Why the simplicity of the tech stack/operations, low cost and high levels of vehicle replacement make this a well suited space for the rapid iteration of the tech space. - What the discussions with regulators has been like, and the key considerations that they have. - The competitive landscape for autonomous micromobility and where Dmitry sees the threats in

In this episode, Oliver interviews Frank Reig, CEO of Revel, an e-moped sharing system in NYC/DC that has just announced a $27.6m raise to expand to 10 new cities. It’s a fascinating interview as shared e-mopeds have a number of key operational improvements over the more popular kick scooter/electric bike shared systems that we’ve seen. Specifically we discuss: - Their recent raise and plans for the next 12-18 months. - Their origin story from Frank’s experiences in Argentina and his background in the electric vehicle space - The financial, infrastructural and operational advantages of using e-mopeds over normal kick scooters, and how that drives them to consider themselves more like a parallel to the carshare industry than the kick scooter industry. - Their fleets in NYC and DC, and the experiences they’ve had working with regulators in both. - How they deal with parking, and why they believe that is part of Revel’s ‘special sauce’. - A deeper dive on both their vehicle longevity and their swappable b

In this episode, Horace and Oliver host a live podcast recording at The Drivery, an incubator in Berlin in front of an audience. They discuss the upcoming Micromobility Europe conference, disruption of the German car industry and what will disrupt micromobility itself in the future. It was a great conversation! This week we discuss: - Germany’s micromobility explosion and why it’s different from other countries - Why we chose Berlin for the Micromobility Conference in Berlin - Why the intellectual interest in micromobility from the car OEM’s is a textbook disruption response - How automakers will eventually be forced to flee cities - What can we see coming along that will disrupt Micromobility in the future - What would businesses built on micromobility platforms look like? - What form factors we see emerging for colder climates - What the impact of new motors will be on vehicles - Why a marketplace for rides is coming, and what the impacts of these low cost rides will be. “A bit transfer cost has gone t

In this episode, Oliver and Horace talk about cost-per-mile calculations for micromobility, and the implications of the recent blogpost that Horace published on the Micromobility.io blog (https://micromobility.io/blog/2019/9/9/the-cost-of-a-mile). In short - what happens when the marginal cost per additional km collapses towards zero with Micromobility. We think there are lots of lessons we can take from the telecom industry. Specifically, we cover: - The cost-per-mile calculations from New York for both Citi-Bike and taxis and how they compare to private owned cars - The comparison of shared vs. owned micromobility, and why Horace is far more bullish than Oliver on shared platforms - The jobs-to-be-done of shared vs owned micromobility, and why they’re in many ways different markets - What new behaviours and business opportunities we’re seeing emerge on shared platforms and why scooter trains validate our early thesis about why micromobility is disruptive. - Why Lime and Bird are likely to become the equ

In this episode, Oliver interviews Martin Mignot, a general partner at Index Ventures and panelist on our ‘Capital in Micromobility’ panel at the upcoming Micromobility Europe conference in Berlin. Index Ventures were early investors in Bird, and have a long history of investing in the micro and macro mobility space over the last 15 years. Specifically, we dug into: - His thesis around investing in mobility companies, and why the smartphone/internet has proved so transformational - Index’s investment in Bird, and why their focus on design and brand differentiates them starkly from the competition - His investment in Cowboy, his bullishness on high end owned micromobility, and how software/hardware integration can create outsized value. - The evolving funding landscape for shared scooters, and how he sees that progressing over the two years. - Why Paris has been a model laboratory for how the market for shared operations will develop over time. - How the pointy end of micromobility tech has started to hi

In this episode, Oliver interviews Jeff Russakow, CEO of Boosted Boards, makers of the famous electric skateboards and now scooter. Boosted focuses on vehicle-grade owned micromobility, which provides a refreshing counter to the hype around shared models. It’s one of our best episodes to date--highly recommend checking it out! Specifically we cover: - the origins of the company, and how it proves out Horace’s early thesis on the disruptive potential of modularized componentry. - Jeff’s history with lightweight electric vehicles and his eventual coming to Boosted - How they think through their role as manufacturing ‘vehicle grade’ vehicles in the micromobility space, and how this differentiates them from other manufacturers - how their customers use their products - hint: 82% of their customers use them for their commute. - How they think through shared services vs. the owned micromobility market, solving the job-to-be-done of travel and why they’re doubling down on personally owned vehicles - Why they cons

In this episode, Horace and Oliver run over Horace’s insights from his recent research using UN data into city-level potential for micromobility markets globally. We run through the most interesting growth trends in 1800+ cities. Specifically we look at: - Contextualising the rapid growth in car-based urbanisation as part of a 5000 year trend - Why Africa is one of the most interesting potential markets between now and 2035. - The cities positioned for both the fastest growth and largest increase. - How the low-income demographics of new migrants to these emerging mega-cities necessitates the need for cheap micromobility transport - Why we should look at auto-ownership rates to understand the 'low-end' potential of micromobility. - The likely business models we'll see emerge with the confluence of autonomy, networking and new propulsion options. - How these vehicles will beat the current incumbents of petrol powered scooters in Asia The things mentioned in the episode are: - The blogpost that Horace

In this episode, Oliver interviews Lawrence Leuschner, CEO and co-founder of Tier, one of Europe’s largest scooter operators with over 6 million cumulative rides to date. Specifically, we cover: - Lawrence’s background as a successful entrepreneur and his motivations for starting Tier - the landscape for micromobility adoption in Europe, and why Europe is better placed to adsorb these transport innovations - we unpack the reasoning behind their unique operational model and more recent moves into custom hardware - reviews of regulations and data standards across Europe, lessons from Paris and why he thinks Germany is the most promising micromobility market - capital efficiency of operations, and how/why European operators differ from Lime and Bird - current and future integrations with public transport systems, and where this is most likely to occur. All in all, a fascinating interview!

In this episode, Horace and Oliver discuss Donald Shoup’s work, The High Cost of Free Parking, and why micromobility offers such a compelling counter to the dominant mindset that has existed around parking for the last 70 years. Specifically, we cover: - the financial and spatial impact of parking minimums in the US - The Catch-22 of parking legislation - parking creates sprawled landscapes that increases the need for them to move around. - The importance of pricing parking appropriately - The odd behaviour that our misplacing of car parks has created in Japan and the US - the logical use case for autonomy in RV’s if we can’t better price/allocate roadspace - Why micromobility offers such a fundamental rethink of space allocation and parking requirements

In this episode, Oliver interviews Sampo Heitanen, CEO of MaaS Global/Whim on their mobility as a service subscription model they have in Helsinki and a number of other markets. Specifically we cover: - How MaaS Global came to be started - The unique context of Helsinki’s regulatory environment and the enabling factors that made it a great first market - The challenges and opportunities of scaling mobility as a service offerings - ticketing, API’s, regulatory barriers and walled gardens - The importance of docked and dockless micromobility in driving down the costs of the subscription model - Their customer demographics and how this has driven their choices around subscription packages - How he thinks about Uber’s walled garden efforts in the mobility as a service space - The role of governments/regulators in encouraging mobility as a service offerings It’s a great conversation about the shift of business models to mobility-as-a-service subscriptions, underpinned by micromobility.

In this episode, Oliver interviews Tiffany Chu (@tchu88), co-founder and COO at Remix to discuss the role of software in helping cities plan for better use of their streets and help them harness the benefits of micromobility. Specifically we cover:  - The story of Remix and how they came to found it. - The predominant use cases for cities in utilising their software, and how this helps break down silos within city governments. - The challenges she sees with the rapid growth of micromobility and cities ability to absorb these new vehicles. - How she sees us more rapidly deploying new micromobility friendly infrastructure, and how that pares with the existing political processes in a lot of places - An explanation of MDS and why it’s valuable for city officials - What they’re planning to do with their recent Series B raise - What she would recommend for entrepreneurs thinking of working with governments. Unfortunately we lost a bit of the better quality audio halfway through so have to revert to the backup re

In this episode, Oliver and Horace discuss a recent trip that Horace made around Continental Europe and reflect on the changing dynamics of shared micromobility business models. Specifically: - The core product, regulatory and operational challenges that are constraining shared mimo companies - The differences between being anti-car and pro-micromobility - The parallels in this market to the mistakes made by the Chinese bikeshare operators, and more historically, the clean tech boom of the late ‘00s. - Why Bird launching the Cruiser was predictable, what the likely next steps will be in terms of product design and how this tracks the early years of the phone industry - An update on Horace’s blogpost ‘The Three Eras of Micromobility’ - The three categories of operators we’ve seen emerge: Independent Mega’s (Bird, Lime), Corporate Parent backed (Jump, Motivate) and Independent Minors (Voi, Tier, Bolt, Circ, etc etc.) and how the capital constraints of each impact their ability to innovate. - How microm

This week Oliver interviews journalist David Zipper about the quietly brewing war over mobility data that is being played out between cities and shared micromobility operators. David is a Resident Fellow at the German Marshall Fund and a Partner in the 1776 Venture Fund, where he oversees investments in smart cities and mobility ventures. Following his tenure as director of NYC Business Solutions in Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration in New York City he served as director of Business Development and Strategy for two mayors in Washington, D.C. David has written a number of articles in Slate, Fast Company and The Atlantic covering, among other things, the rise of the Mobility Data Specification which we see as one of the building blocks to supercharge micromobility’s growth, and underpin the future operating systems for mobility in our cities. In this episode, we dig into: - What is the Mobility Data Specifications, and why are they significant? - Who are the major players arguing for or against

In this episode, we release the content from a recent MM Meetup call with Horace where he unpacks 'What makes Micromobility Disruptive?'. This was recorded from a call for our paid subscribers via the Substack newsletter, and grants exclusive access to Horace to ask questions on a monthly basis. It helps support the work that Horace, myself, James, Chase and Luke do to generate content for you guys, and grants you exclusive benefits like discounts to Summits, exclusive swag, early access to content and a community of other micromobility enthusiasts. See more details below. On the call, they cover: - How the current phase of scooters are similar to the Motorola Razr of the mid-late 2000s. - How dependent on infrastructure is Micromobility’s success? What can we learn from the deployment of both cellular and autonomotive infrastructure development? - The difference between adoption and disruption. Why adoption will come regardless, and what about disruption is predictable? How can we use language to track a

In this episode, Oliver interviews Nick Lovett (@nicklovettnz), Transport Policy Planner at the Christchurch City Council in New Zealand. Nick runs the scooter trial with Lime, and has recently expanded the programme to Beam (Singapore) and Flamingo (a local competitor). As noted in earlier episodes, Christchurch has been widely praised for his progressive stance embracing micromobility. In this episode, we dig into the wider lessons both entrepreneurs and regulators can take from Christchurch’s example. Specifically, we cover: - The primary things that entrepreneurs need to understand when dealing with regulators - How regulators like Nick are thinking about the rise of business models like Lime and the new leading programme from Bird - The challenges with having cities adapt quickly to new transport modes, and what entrepreneurs need to watch out for. - What regulators are balancing while seeking to embrace micromobility in their cities.

In this episode, we publish the Software for Micromobility panel from the Micromobility California Summit. In this panel, Stacey Randecker Bartlett (Co-Host, The Flying Car) hosts a conversation with William Henderson (CEO, Ride Report), Tiffany Chu (COO, Remix), Alex Kirn (CEO, INVERS), Jake Sion (COO, Transit App), Victor Pontis (CEO, ScooterMap) about how software is enabling and empowering micromobility to be adopted into cities. Specifically they cover: - Whether they see the emergence of one app to rule them all - How software is integrating these services into a multimodal solution that can replace the job to be done of cars - How software enables the remote fleet management for shared assets - The software that cities are adopting to manage both shared fleets, as well as planning for their roadspace - What cities are starting to learn when they’re empowered with software - How MDS is working and not working for cities and operators - The challenges around privacy in software and open data standards

In this episode, Horace and Oliver discuss Horace's visit to Christchurch, New Zealand for the ITSNZ T-Tech 19 conference. For those that don't know, Christchurch suffered a massive earthquake in 2011, levelling most of downtown and killing 181 people. The city has been rebuilt with great cycle/micromobility infrastructure, which has led to Lime Scooters and cycling as a modal being incredibly popular in the city. In this episode, we unpack: - why the concentration of political power in cities makes them more likely to be able to quickly adapt to micromobility changes - how the earthquake parallels the expected increase in volatility in environment we're likely to see from climate change, and how this benefits micromobility. - how sunk costs in infrastructure can and will hinder the adoption of micromobility, and why this is a mistake. - How the conformability of small vehicles allows them to permeate further into the city substrate in a way that larger vehicles cannot - How transport changes how we relate

In this episode, we publish a panel discussion from the Micromobility California Summit in January. Derrick Ko (CEO, Spin), Michael Keating (CEO, Scoot), Sanjay Dastoor (CEO, Skip) and Sergio Romo (CEO, Grin) are interviewed by Cory Weinberg from The Information. They cover: - The scooter landscape as it was in January, and lessons learnt so far - The challenges they've faced ins scaling, and what they foresee ahead - Their changing relationships with cities - Which competitor company they respect the most - How OEM's such as Ford are thinking about the space. - How each of them think about capital raising, and the different approaches taken.

In this episode, Horace and Oliver unpack the Uber S-1 filing, noting, among other things: - The parallels between Uber's assessment of total addressable market and that which we've talked about on the Micromobility podcast. - The economics of short trips, and how these skew towards Micromobility vs Uber's existing rideshare business. - The strategy that makes the most sense for Uber to scale micromobility over the short to mid term. - We discuss the recent Barclays Bank report on micromobility that also further validates Horace's and Uber's analysis of the market potential. We also discuss the Micromobility book, the Micromobility Membership and the upcoming Micromobility Summit in Europe on October 1st. For details on all of this, please head to micromobility.io

New to micromobility? This episode is for you. Been with us all year? There is still plenty of depth and breadth being addressed. In this special episode, Horace and Oliver revisit many of the ideas of the first 20+. It is a great episode for both solidifying one’s understanding and introducing one’s friends and family. Specifically, they cover: - How Horace came to micromobility and why it was so initially captivating - The primary requirement of the micromobility definition (500kg) and the secondary requirements — motor and utility - Recent growth in global production ability and the China bikeshare bubble - The push and pull of micromobility - How success in disruption requires humility for both sides - The various pain points of modern transportation and how micromobility addresses them - Jobs to be done and the markets for micromobility - How the sharing economy allows us to no longer buy for the extremely rare use cases (six sigma) - Applying our intuitive sense for jobs to be done in computin