Across the world, the rate of industrialization and
level of urbanization are increasing, which are resulting in the growing
spending power. People are now able to purchase stuff that they couldn’t
earlier; a classic example is personal vehicles. While the primary purpose of
buying them has always been transportation, in certain places, particularly
developing countries, people buy them just as a status symbol. The booming
automotive sales have led to several issues, such as air pollution, as
vehicular exhaust contains many harmful gases, including sulfur dioxide,
nitrogen oxides (NOx), and carbon dioxide (CO2). To tackle the
issue, governments and international organizations are encouraging people to
shun private transport and go for public transport instead, especially for
short distances.
One of the concepts in this regard, which is rapidly
becoming popular, is scooter sharing, which lets commuters rent such small
vehicles for short-distance traveling. From $99.8 million in 2018, the scooter sharing market is predicted to grow to $553.0 million by 2025, at a 24.4%
CAGR during the forecast period (2019–2025). Shared scooters can be hired for
one-way as well as round trips, of which one-way trips have been more popular.
People are increasingly using such vehicles for first- and last-mile
connectivity and also as part of a multimodal approach, wherein scooters are
ridden to reach a bus stop or metro station.
As scooters take up less space on the roads as well as
require smaller parking areas, the government of several countries are
promoting these for regular commuting. With the increase in the number of
vehicles on the roads, as a result of the increasing disposable income and
population, urban congestion is also rising, with pedestrians barely getting
space to cross roads in certain places. With more people opting for shared
scooters, it is being expected that road congestion will come down and traffic
flow will be a lot smoother than presently.
Another advantage of traveling by shared scooters is
convenience and cost savings. These services do away with the need to own a
vehicle, which is a costly affair, owing to the high vehicle purchase and
gasoline/diesel prices, insurance premium, parking fee (in certain places), and
the added expenditure on regular maintenance and servicing. Users only have to
pay an initial registration or scooter unlocking amount and then additional
charges on the basis of the journey time and distance, the charges for all of
which are quite low. Further, services are generally available throughout the
day, with a simple tap on the smartphone app of sharing companies.
To make access to services better, shared scooter
firms are leveraging the platform as a service (PaaS) technology to develop
their own mobile apps. Under the model, vendors subscribe to a software,
usually available on the cloud, to carry out business and also save on operational
costs. Another among the technological developments in the shared mobility
domain is internet of things (IoT), wherein vehicles have their own network
connection. This enables service providers handle navigation, optimize the
sharing process via efficient vehicle tracking and monitoring, and analyze
problems from a remote place.
Presently, Europe displays the highest usage rate of
scooter sharing services, owing to the large number of regional cities which
have such mobility programs. Though the concept originated in San Francisco,
U.S., it has witnessed the fastest expansion in Europe, where such services are
available in over 60 cities, currently. During the forecast period, the scooter
sharing market growth in Asia-Pacific (APAC) is predicted to be the most
rapid. The primary reason behind this would be the swift adoption of shared
scooters in Taiwan and China.
Hence, as more people realize the negative effects of
the growing number of vehicles, they would start hiring shared scooters, at
least for shorter distances, more often.
