Via acquires Citymapper, Blablacar to acquire Klaxit; micromobility recommendations and the gig-economy wins big in California.

Via acquires Citymapper; Gett partners with HQ; San Paolo creates own ride-hailing app; Bolt expands to Nepal; Blablacar to acquire Klaxit; Gomore takes over Snappcar; Dott+Lime+Tier+Bird+Superpedestrian coming together to recommend micromobility operations & regulations; Deliveroo publishes 2022 results; WeRide confidentially files for IPO; Cruise testing new ‘Origin’ vehicle; Arrival raised $300M; Rivian wants to remove exclusivity with Amazon; Gig economy model wins in California; and more with Eloop, Mile Mobility, Socar, Neuron, Milkrun, Baidu, Navya, LIFT, Waze, Amish people and buses with names. Let’s start #movingpeople. 

Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedRide-Hailing & Taxi, Buses & DRT  🚙🚐

Via acquires Citymapper. Now Via is able to offer a customer-facing trip-planning solution (Citymapper) next to its on-demand platform (Via) and transport planning (Remix) - vertically integrating in the transport space to offer not 'just' DRT / micromobility - but a turn-key solution for public transport agencies to manage their entire operations. 

Gett partners with HQ. Last week I reported that Gett and FreeNow partner in the UK to allow Gett’s corporate clients access to FreeNow’s minicab supply pool; and this week Gett and HQ partner in London to allow HQ’s corporate clients access to Gett’s black cab supply. 

Sao Paulo launched MobizapSP, its own ride-hailing app, to compete with existing ride-hailing (Uber. 99 etc.) solutions. The app has a fixed fee of 10.95% of ride, versus roughly 25-30% on other platforms. MobizapSP is now open for drivers to register; once 10,000 drivers register (7,000 have registered in the first two days) the app will go live for bookings - which is planned for circa March 24th. Will MobizapSP be able to generate demand? TBC. 

Bolt expands to Nepal, offering ride-hailing services in Kathmandu. Bolt is joining existing players InDrive and Pathao and local Sahara and Tootle, and intends to win on price, offering lower service fees. The expansion is being managed from Estonia, with no local office. 

Bolt starts recruiting black cab drivers in London. So far the company has focused on the minicab market for its supply. Drivers can keep the full metre fare, with customers paying £2 booking fee.

FreeNow mobility report: in 2022 the company saw trip increase of 50%, serving 48 million passengers across the 10 countries and 170 cities FreeNow is active in. The #1 city in terms of trips is Dublin, followed by London and Warsaw. More stats in the report. 

Uber partners with taxis in Munich, working according to the taxi metre. Stagecoach and ioki launch in Aylesham, UK. Via expands in San Antonio, US. Careem Pakistan removes peak charge on bikes and rickshaws. Uber's 'Record My Ride' feature Is expanding to more cities. The feature allows riders and drivers to record the ride and file a safety report. Piloted in Latin America since 2019, the feature is slowly expanding in the US. 

Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedSharing/renting 🚗🛴

Blablacar to acquire Klaxit. Both are car pooling companies, with Blabla focusing on the intercity travel market, and Klaxit on commute pooling. Klaxit is a veteran player in the French market; established in 2012, the company has partnerships with many local governments and companies, and in 2022 facilitated 2.6 million rides on its platform. Blabla has a competitive commuter product, called ‘Blabla daily’, which will integrate with the Klexit solution. 

Eloop, car-sharing Austria, receives investment from ‘The Sharing Group’, who in the past have also invested in mywheels, car sharing in the Netherlands. Funds from the “millions of euros” round will be used to expand both at home and to Munich. Miles Mobility launches in Stuttgart, the company’s 9th German city, and will also integrate to FreeNow. Enterprise Car Club to launch a car-sharing scheme in Portsmouth in the summer. 

Snappcar P2P car-sharing shuts down in Sweden, with Gomore taking over Snappcar’s operations. Gomore has 180,000 users and 5,000 cars registered, and will be taking on Snappcar’s 6,000 registered cars. The deal strengthens Gomore’s position as the Nordic region's largest P2P car-sharing platform. 

In Belgium, car sharing increased by 40% in 2022, bringing total user numbers to 121,000. According to a survey by Autodelen, each shared car takes 3-10 private cars off the street. For more figures on the Belgium car sharing market. 

SK (S. Korea) sells its 2.98% stake in Turo to focus on expanding Socar, Malaysian car-sharing, to SouthEast Asia; and to invest in other electric and autonomous mobility projects. 

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

Industry players’ agreement on micromobility regulation has been reached by Dott, Lime, Superpedestrian, Tier and Voi. Together the companies have >750,000 vehicles in 37 countries, and these are their main recommendations (for the full paper):

• Enable operator profitability by allowing each operator a minimum of 500-750 vehicles (economies of scale); a further recommendation advices on fees to be similar to bike-sharing schemes

• In order to provide a quality reliable service for riders, 80-200 vehicles per sq. km are needed

• Minimum contract length should be two years, for both operators and riders (market education)

• Avoid ‘free market’ or licence models and keep away from selecting operators on financial contribution - but on reliability, safety, sustainability and fleet management abilities

• Keep speeds at 20-25 km/h (12.5-15.5 mph) and remove helmet requirement

There are also recommendations on data sharing, tender processing, operating areas, parking spots and those are all here. 

Perth launches 500 e-scooter trial. The two-year trial is done with ​​Neuron and Bird, each deploying 250 scooters. Taking safety into account, there are geographical (not on main streets), time span (not weekends’ nights), speed (up to 25kph) and age limits (16) on scooter usage. Dott plans to double e-scooter life span, adding four more years to its assets. This, by launching a refurbishment scheme that will dismantle and rebuild its scooters. The program will start in Lyon. Bird renewed its e-scooter and bike contract with South Bend, Indiana, through 2024.

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

Deliveroo publishes 2022 results: gross transaction value (GTV) up 9%; revenue up 14% to £1.94bn; Gross Profit up 14% to £643.2M; and Operating Loss of £245.6. Grocery delivery is 11% of GTV; net cash of £1bn. From looking at the reports, I can’t understand how profitability is reached. 

Just Eat Takeaway to complete deregistration from the Nasdaq. This will allow JET to save on reporting costs associated with being a public company. JET will continue to trade in Amsterdam. 

Milkrun (Australia) lays off 20% of its workforce, including all of the brand, creative and marketing team. The company is working toward profitability - changing its model from 10 min quick delivery to 30-40 min ‘normal’ delivery, raising prices and lowering driver incentives - and has taken a beating over that from customers. 

Glovo and Carrefour Polska expand partner operations. Foodpanda Pakistan partners with FMD to offer free online doctor consultations and other benefits to drivers. DelivApp, SaaS delivery platform, partners with Golda, Israel’s largest ice-cream chain with over 130 branches. Rabbit (Egypt) launched Gomla, a new product offering customers that buy in bulk the cheapest prices across with next-day delivery. UberEats partners with its first US airport, in Tampa. 

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

WeRide confidentiality files for IPO in the US. The company is looking to raise $500M. There are open questions regarding Chinese and US governments acceptance of the move, since there are serious data concerns involved. The company says that it has “solved the problem by outsourcing its data collection to an external entity that won't be involved in the company's planned US listing” - but let’s just wait and see. 

Cruise to begin testing GM and Honda manufactured ‘Origin’ robotaxis, a purpose built electric driverless vehicle designed for sharing. Origin has no steering wheel, brakes or other human controls on board, and the company says it does not need NHTSA’s OK to start testing the vehicle, and it seems Cruise is correct, even if the NHTSA isn’t very happy about it. Tests to begin in Austin in the coming weeks

TuSimple’s co-founder Hou resigns from the board because of (1) an internal investigation into whether he was ‘poaching’ employees to move over to his new venture or (2) disagreements about new CEO Cheng Lu’s compensation package, as well as the company’s shift in focus from Level 4 autonomy to Level 2 autonomy. Depends on who you’re asking. 

Baidu wins permit to offer driverless robotaxi service in Beijing city. Navya update - submission of offers for the company has been postponed to March 30th, with a court hearing planned for April 4th. SoftBank and May Mobility start autonomous driving field tests in Japan. TuSimple trucks have recorded more than 10 million cumulative miles. Mobileye opens a Shanghai-based test centre. May Mobility announces launch of third-generation autonomous driving system. 

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

Volocopter partners with SITA for the latter to develop vertiports. SITA is also an investor in Volocopter’s last round. A Quartz long read on Archer. LIFT, a private 1-seater flying car, completes its first piloted flight, in Japan. To video. 

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

Arrival raised $300M; funds will be used to continue development of its XL delivery vans for the US market. The company is looking to raise an additional $500M, of those $100-150M by the end of the year, to be able to move forward with production by 2024. 

Rivian is in talks with Amazon to remove the exclusivity clause of their EV van agreement. Amazon is both an investor (holding ±17% of Rivian) and an exclusive customer, in the past ordering 100,000 vans from Rivian. 

Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedGig economy 💰

The gig-economy model won in California - with the court upholding proposition 22, meaning drivers can be classified as independent contractors. The legislative battle has been going on since 2020, with AB5 (initiated by the state) categorising drivers as workers, then prop.22 (initiated by ride-hailing and delivery companies) as independent contractors, then a court ruling prop. 22 is unconstitutional, then appeal and now a decision that prop. 22 is constitutional and can stand. And this is just the very short version of it. Expect an appeal to the California Supreme Court.

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

In South Africa, power shortages are hurting ride-hailing & delivery drivers’ earnings. Load shedding (initiated blackouts) are common in SA, and can affect cell phone towers, in which case either the entire industry is gone or drivers scramble between different telcos to see which is working. Another challenge is traffic lights shutting down, causing lateness and cancelled trips. 

Fairmatic raises $46M to bring AI to commercial auto insurance. Waze adds a new feature that helps drivers find chargers en route. As with Waze, the community will be able to add information to the app. 

Amish people are adopting e-bikes, mostly using solar power to charge. In a “Pointless blog about bus names“, Roger French reminds us that community is at the heart of transportation.