Bolt fights Spanish regulation, Kitty Hawks shuts down, Glovo fined €79M for labour violations.

This week on #movingpeople, how Bolt is creatively answering Spanish VTC regulation, BusUp expands to Mexico, Treepz launches B2B service in Ghana, Nigerian all-women ride-hailing, Brussels 78% micromobility usage week-on-week (it was a special week), Glovo fined €79M for having gig-employees, Mobileye starts testing level 4 autonomous, McDonalds in Ukraine and a very important cause from the Worshipful Company of Hackney Carriage Drivers (taxis). Let’s start. 

Ride-hailing, car sharing & DRT 🚙🚌

The Spanish government is mandating local authorities to place their own regulations on VTC vehicles (ride-hailing vehicles) by October 1st, or ride-hailing companies would only be able to operate between different municipalities and not within a town or city itself, effectively ‘killing’ the ride-hailing business model. Most local governments have completed the required regulation, with taxi drivers using the opportunity to put pressure on local governments by striking (Andalucía). The Spanish government isn’t always happy as well, threatening to sue Cabify for its ad campaign against the move. 

In Barcelona, the city is introducing a new measure that prohibits cars under 4.9 metres from operating as VTC, with common cars being usually 4.3-4.5 metres long. But when regulators try to artificially engineer regulation, things can go wrong. Bolt responded out-of-the-box by adding bumpers, artificially extending vehicles to 4.9 metres. I have a feeling this isn’t game over yet. 

BusUp expands to Mexico. This is the company's fifth market, after Spain (founded in), Portugal, Brazil and the US. HopSkipDrive, a car-based school transportation solution for “students who don’t fit on traditional bus routes”, raised $37M. The service runs in 21 US markets, serving 16,000 schools. 

Uber Israel is penetrating the market by working with taxi fleets (UberX services are illegal). The company is offering lower prices to taxis, hoping that latest price increases by Gett and Yango will help Uber grow its supply market share. Uber commission models allow drivers commission of as low as 3% (or high as 8%, same as Yango) depending on driver commitment to the platform. 

Treepz Ghana launches ‘Business Treepz’ for corporates, schools, tour operators, events and private hire. The company is also introducing its 1st electric bus. Treepz, founded three years ago, is present in Nigeria, Ghana and Uganda. Careem partners with Tikety, an online events marketplace, to allow better access to events in the UAE. Gojek to reduce its grace period for cancellations to 4 minutes and impose up to $9 waiting fee, following a similar move by Grab in July. HerRyde is a Nigerian all-women ride-hailing service. Launched in August with 10 drivers, the app logged 500 rides in its first month. AirAsia to launch ride-hailing in Bali, Indonesia. The company has a similar scheme working in Malaysia. Popping Car, Korean car-sharing, is looking to expand to Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia, 

Go-Ahead, via Carousel Buses, launches DRT service in High Wycombe. ioki partners with NextBillion.ai, a mapping platform, to enhance hyper-local mapping solutions. Uber now offers EV rides in 25 North America cities with its ‘Comfort Electric’ brand. 

Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedMicromobility 🚲🛴

Dott reports surge in micro-mobility ridership in Paris and Brussels following a ‘car free days’ initiative by the municipalities. Paris saw a 8% week-on-week rider increase, while Brussels witnessed an unbelievable 78% increase. Bird management transition continues. Tier expands in the UAE. 

Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedDelivery 🍽🧺

Spain fines Glovo €79M for labour violation. A law introduced in 2021 required companies to take in riders as employees. Glovo continued to have some 10,000 riders as gig-employees, hence the fine. 

DoorDash unveils new partnership with retail and grocery retailers. Deliveroo introduces a new sustainability initiative in the UAE to responsibly dispose of rider kits. FoodPanda officially launches ‘Panda Ads’

Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedAutonomous 🤖

Mobileye starts testing level 4 autonomous with NIO vehicles. Kakao and Huyndai partner to test driverless driving technology. Waymo plans wet weather driving tests in Washington. 

Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedManufacturers 🛺⚡️

Rivian opens a R&D centre in Serbia and a manufacturing facility in Georgia. Telas ramps up production.Ola Electric expands to Nepal partnering with a local distributor. 

Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFlying cars 🚁☁️

Kitty Hawk is shutting down. The company was a pioneer in the development of eVTOLs, initially developing a single seater eVTOL, building more than 100 such vehicles, shutting that program down back in June 2020. The company had other projects, one of those spun off and is now named Wisk, in partnership with Boeing. Other projects faced competition from the high number of companies in the eVTOL space. Now it is closing. 

Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedIn other news 📰

Is ‘minimobility’, three & four wheeled small cars, the next trend in mobility? A McKinsey report. McDonalds reopened in Kyiv, Ukraine, and Ukrainians swamped it with orders, causing Glovo to run out of couriers and remove the restaurant from the app. Google acquires BreezoMeter, a climate tech data collection startup, which is expected to integrate into Google Maps. Electric rollerblades. 

Magical Taxi Tour takes 100 children to Disneyland Paris. Since its inception in 1994, the Magical Taxi Tour has taken more than 5,000 sick children to Disneyland. It runs on sponsorship and donations, and I think it is a very good cause. To the Magical Taxi Tour website.