Micromobility
The term micromobility refers to a category of small, lightweight vehicles designed for short-distance travel in urban areas and operated by their users. Micromobility encompasses a wide range of transport options, including bicycles, velomobiles, e-bikes, cargo bikes, electric scooters, electric skateboards, shared bicycle fleets, and electric pedal-assisted bicycles. Motorized micromobility vehicles are also known as personal transporters.
Initial definitions set the primary condition for inclusion in the category of micromobility to be a gross vehicle weight of less than. However, according to a standard of the SAE International in 2018 the definition has evolved to exclude devices with internal combustion engines and those with top speeds above.
The term micromobility was allegedly coined by Horace Dediu in 2017. However, references to the term on the internet can be found as early as 2010.
Characteristics
Micromobility uses wheeled vehicles that are low-speed, operated by a single person, and meant for travel over a short distance. Micromobility can use a combination of any, human-powered, combustion and electric based propulsion. The legality of micro-mobility, and its usage, will vary depending on jurisdiction.Micromobility can use privately owned vehicles or those available as rental vehicles, often in the form of dockless sharing.
Devices that fall within the definition of micromobility in the European Union are typically classified as bicycles and are permitted to use bicycle infrastructure such as protected bicycle lanes, cycle tracks, cycle highways, and off-street trails. Classification as bicycles also exempts users from requirement to register them, pay vehicle registration fees, or maintain liability insurance.
Within the European Union vehicle categorization, micromobility vehicles fall under the L category, and are excluded from the M, N, O and higher categories.
Examples
Bikes, electric scooters, and skateboards are all micromobility vehicles. Other types include golf carts, kick scooters, Onewheel, personal transporters, roller skates, Segways, unicycles, tricycles, handcycles, mobility scooter, quadracycles, and wheelchairs.Light electric vehicles
Many types of micromobility vehicles are also classified as light electric vehicles. Examples of light electric vehicles include electric bicycles, electric scooters, electric skateboards, electric unicycle, and onewheel. Vehicles that are classified as LEVs differ based on individual country regulations. In the European Union, according to European regulation EU 168/2013, light electric vehicles cannot be constructed to exceed 25 km/h. Further classification of light electric vehicle differs between countries. The classification can be based on characteristics such as total mass and maximum power output.History
Micromobility vehicles such as bicycles and scooters, have been in use since the 19th century, but in the early 20th century cars began to dominate in modal share in cities such as New York. Since then, the use of bicycles for utilitarian urban transport has been relatively low in comparison to trips made by larger vehicles outside of a few cities in China, the Netherlands, and Denmark.Origins
Micromobility was originally in the form of bicycle-sharing services in Europe. The very first generation of bicycle-sharing was non-profit and small in scale, with the central aim to address the social and environmental impacts of urban sprawl. The white bike program in Amsterdam was unveiled in 1965, where 50 white bikes were unlocked and presented to the public, completely free of charge. Despite the program's good intentions, there were a number of significant issues resulting from theft, unorganized return spots, and overall dysfunction of the system. Similar programs were created in the following years in France and the Netherlands, all located in densely populated areas of cities.The second generation of bicycle-sharing services revolutionized the previously non-profit program into a more organized business endeavor. With docking stations and coin depositories, this approach made its way across trans-continental borders, as Wisconsin and Texas were notable adopters of the new model. Norway, Finland, and Denmark were among the first three countries to include locks to deter the previous predecessor's problems. However, there was still a major issue regarding the reliability of bike-sharing: the bikes themselves.
The third generation of bicycle-sharing services attempted to establish a sense of reliability and functionality with the help of advanced technologies. Tracking of each individual bicycle was enabled, reservations could be made through smart phones, and payment options were digitally compatible. As a result, the popularity of bicycle-sharing services reached a new peak. Over 100 sharing services were created spanning across 125 cities in 4 continents, though France was, arguably, the most notable. The implementation of Velo'v in 2005 was the first sharing system that integrated advanced technology, resulting in over 1,500 bicycles available through reservation from Velo'v alone. LE Velo'v STAR and Vélib were other programs that were created in conjunction with this new iteration of micromobility.
The fourth generation of bicycle-sharing services integrated further functionality and compatibility with multi-modal technologies and advanced payment interfaces. E-bikes replaced the original bicycle, and fully digitized touch screen kiosks provided a more user-friendly customer experience. BIXI, a Canadian-based service company were among the first to douse the bicycle-sharing service with 21st century technological advances. Due to the enhanced features, BIXI became the very first large-scale North American bike-sharing company, ultimately paving the way for further innovations with micromobility.
Pedalless
In 1655, Stephan Farffler, a 22-year-old paraplegic watchmaker, built the world's first self-propelling chair on a three-wheel chassis using a system of cranks and cogwheels. However, the device had an appearance of a hand bike more than a wheelchair since the design included hand cranks mounted at the front wheel. The invalid carriage or Bath chair brought the technology into more common use from around 1760. William Kent developed an early stroller in 1733. Strollers became affordable and widespread due to new manufacturing materials in the 1930s. The push scooter was invented by Denis Johnson in 1819 and usually constructed mainly from wood. Motorised scooters first appeared as autopeds enjoying a brief boom in popularity in 1915. The aluminium folding scooter popularised the push scooter in the 1990s. E-scooters first appeared in 2003. In 1882 a sports newspaper in Stockholm first reported a kicksled as a vehicle that could be kicked forwards on ice and snow. In 1965, Owen Maclaren designed a lightweight stroller with an aluminium frame further popularising the stroller. In the 1960s and 1970s skateboards enjoyed popularity, displacing kick scooters which nearly disappeared completely.Pedal
The pedal-powered tricycle was invented by two Frenchmen, named Blanchard and Maguier in 1789. It predates the invention of the bicycle in Germany by Karl von Drais in 1817. Tricycles were not popular until 1876, when James Starley introduced the Coventry Lever Tricycle, a side-driven two-track, lever-driven machine, which started the tricycling craze in Great Britain. This was replaced with the bike boom of the 1890s as a result of the popular introduction of Starley's safety bicycle.Human-powered quadracycles were invented in 1853 and enjoyed modest popularity. This was followed by quadricycles in 1896 which included a motor. Recumbent bicycles were invented in 1893. Velomobiles were invented in 1927. Velocars were invented by Mochet in 1932. The first mass-produced electric velomobile was the Sinclair C5.
Rental
While micromobility vehicles have long been available for users to purchase, it was the servitization of these modes of transportation—enabling users to use the nearest micromobility vehicle without having to purchase or store it, and facilitating the flexibility of one-way trips—that led to growth in areas where it was available. The rise of the sharing economy resulted in a massive increase in access to micromobility in many cities, first with the introduction of public bikeshare systems, and then with privately funded and operated dockless bikeshare and electric kick scooter fleets. Most early bikeshare services specified locations, or docks, where vehicles needed to be picked up and left. From 2022 on, the so-called hybrid model, locking systems that can be locked both with and without a dock at the same time, and compatible internet-of-things platforms have been developed.21st century
The second generation was dockless bicycle-sharing, introduced in 2000; the third was dockless electric bicycle sharing, introduced in 2017.The fourth generation of bicycle sharing services employed a dockless model which allows users to end their trip and leave the shared micromobility device anywhere or within a geo-fenced area. Dockless bikeshare first took off in Chinese megacities, and although it began with traditional, non-electric bicycles, it served as a template for what would be possible with electric and motorized bicycles, scooters, and other form factors. The availability of relatively inexpensive batteries, displays and GPS receivers, enabled by the smartphone supply chains, provided easily accessible components to facilitate dockless services worldwide. Outside of Chinese cities, non-electric dockless bikeshare has largely disappeared, with many companies switching from bicycles to electric kick scooters in 2019.
Shared electric kick scooters are considered to have one of the most rapid adoption rates in transport, nearly 4% in one year. Comparatively, it took bikeshare eight years to reach 13% adoption, and carshare 18 years to reach 16% in major United States cities.