The entire concept of micromobility is enabled by IT technologies, including mobile phones, mobile and desktop apps, digital payment platforms and telematics solutions. Micromobility involves sharing two-wheelers (gasoline/petrol and electric) for short-distance transportation, with the bookings and payments being almost exclusively facilitated by mobile apps and websites of the service provider.
How IT Facilitates Micromobility Ride Booking?
To book a ride, the user needs to either download the service provider’s mobile app or visit its website. There, you enter all the trip details, including the destination and origin, the vehicle type (bicycles, kick scooters, and scooters) and preferred journey time and then, make the payment. Following this, you get the pickup spot on the mobile app or your account on the service provider’s website for both station-based and dockless micromobility systems and a code to unlock the vehicle. Then, you reach the spot, put in the code into the vehicle’s dial pad, and you are ready to ride!
What Benefits IT Provides to Micromobility Service Providers?
While IT technologies allow people to book and pay for the rides, they enable a whole lot more for the service providers. When it comes to micromobility companies, the digital technologies available to them are grouped under ‘telematics’. By studying the data fed to the central company system from the small computer onboard the vehicle, service providers can take a stock of their fleet utilization, including the number of vehicles in use at a time, the most-popular routes and journey times, and average kilometers/miles ridden per day, week, or month.
Such a usage analysis further allows companies to know the best times for the utilization of their services, so that trip fares can be elevated or reduced accordingly. During periods of low utilization, companies may want to substantially reduce the fares or provide an offer to lure customers. Similarly, during times when the demand for the services is high, companies could employ dynamic pricing (the higher the demand, the higher the rates).
The telematics solutions also pair users’ smartphone app with the onboard computer, ensuring that only the particular vehicle the user has received the unlock code for can be unlocked using it. Moreover, companies can see the charge remaining in the battery or fuel in the tank, to know when it is time to recharge or take the vehicle to a petrol pump (gas station). Similarly, the health of onboard systems, such as the motor or engine, tire pressure, the computer, GPS/telecommunications module, ADAS, headlights and taillights, battery management system, and AC–DC/DC–DC converter can be monitored, thus allowing for predictive maintenance.
Moreover, the GPS allows companies to track the
location of the two-wheeler in case it goes missing or breaks down or if the
user presses the panic button, thus prompting a search & rescue operation
by the service provider or the authorities. Advanced telematics systems might
also offer vehicle-to-pedestrian, vehicle-to-vehicle and
vehicle-to-infrastructure connectivity, thus making the journey more enjoyable
for the rider and fleet management easier for the service provider.
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