Lime losing lead in ratings war

TikTok teens revive rollerskating, Paris calls its latest micromobility play "car-sharing," and TNCs threaten to leave California.

Hello and welcome to the Micromobility Newsletter, a weekly missive about mobility, mostly mobility in cities by small electric vehicles like bikes and scooters. The reason you’re reading this email is that you signed up on our website or came to one of our events.

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How can innovative positioning and wireless technologies help you design a micromobility solution that sets you apart from competition? What level of location accuracy and robustness do you need to optimize the user experience of customers riding on a shared or privately-owned e-bike, e-scooter, e-moped, or e-motorcycle? 

How do you select positioning and wireless connectivity technologies that help you reduce your fleet operational costs? Why must you look at new solutions to increase micromobility safety and be compliant with road authorities regulations? 

Join u-blox’s upcoming webinar as they uncover design challenges, important IoT security aspects, and explore the technologies that can add value to your product development and the operations of your mobility service platform. 

You will be able to ask questions directly to u-blox—Diego Grassi, Senior Manager Application Marketing and Mathias Vetter, Principal Product Manager, Standard Precision GNSS—and will get introduced to an example of IoT innovation on 2-wheels by Siemen Smolders, Technical Project Manager at Cowboy bikes.

Report: Bird ties Lime as world’s top-rated scooter app for first time

By Prabin Joel

Could Bird overtake Lime as the top-rated micromobility app in the world? Maybe! Following several months of steady improvement, Bird’s app store rating ended last month tied with longtime leader Lime at 4.85/5. 

Overall, most companies’ ratings stayed relatively stable in July. In terms of user satisfaction, Dott and Bird gained the most (0.3% each), while Wind and Yulu fell the farthest (-.08 and -1.4%, respectively).

The total volume of app store reviews written in July was up 32% compared to June. Beam saw the highest growth (126%), followed by Spin (91%).

Overall five operators, Lime, Bird, Spin, Grin, and Voi, accounted for more than 90% of all app store reviews written last month. Lime alone received a majority (57.1%).

Prabin Joel Jones is the VP of IT & Enabling Tech at BOND Mobility, a premium speed e-bike sharing operator based in Zurich.

What you need to know this week

  • Bikes currently account for 7% of all trips in Bogotá, more than any other Latin American city. The Colombian capital’s eventual goal is to have half of all its trips to be made by micromobility devices. To that end, it plans to add 174 miles of new bike lanes as part of a major pandemic-era cycling initiative.

  • Old-school roller skates are on backorder at many retailers, thanks to a new TikTok craze.

  • Giant’s revenue hit $670 million in Q2 and its net income grew 25% over last year, thanks in large part to increased sales for high-margin e-bikes. However shifting trade barriers between China, the US, and Europe have made it difficult for the global bike leader to keep up with demand.

  • After Simon Cowell broke his back while riding an electric two-wheeler in California earlier this month, many in the media—including us—incorrectly reported that the injury had occurred on an e-bike. In reality, the TV star fell off of an electric motorbike that is capable of going four times as fast as the US speed limit for a pedal-assisted bike.

  • Why don’t we hold cars to the same safety standards as scooters and other less hazardous vehicles? David Zipper investigates.

  • Philadelphia is adding GPS to its Indego bikes after 330 out of 1,400 have gone missing so far this year. Live and learn.

  • Lucid Motors’ luxury sedan set an insane new record for longest EV range: 517 miles on a single charge.

  • Paris’s new car-sharing program, Free2Move, is actually a micromobility platform. Users of the system will soon be able to rent the Citroen Ami, a 28-mph, 1,070-pound electric quadricycle that can be legally driven by kids as young as 14, for a few cents a minute.

Pod people

On a new edition of the podcast, Oliver Bruce talks to entrepreneurs Maxim Romain and Henri Moissinac about what makes their startup, Dott, stand out in the scooter world: It makes a profit on every trip.

“We use superior operations and superior product as weapons, the others use capital as a weapon. They have great fundraising story. We have a great business.”

Jobs to be done

Welcome to our jobs board, where every week we post new career openings in hopes of connecting our readers with professional opportunities in the burgeoning world of new mobility. Find out who’s hiring below and sign up for the newsletter to view fresh listings every week.