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Insights and news from the ATOM Mobility team
We started our blog to share free valuable information about the mobility industry: inspirational stories, financial analysis, marketing ideas, practical tips, new feature announcements and more.
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The hidden costs of running a shared mobility business
🚲 The biggest costs in shared mobility are often the ones riders never see. Behind every trip is a constant cycle of fleet balancing, maintenance, charging, customer support, and compliance. As fleets grow, these operational costs can have a bigger impact on profitability than the vehicles themselves. This article explores the hidden costs that shape every shared mobility business.
June 17, 2026
-- min. read
Shared mobility often looks simple from the outside. A user opens an app, unlocks a vehicle, completes a trip, and moves on with their day. But not everybody knows that the system behind every ride is a bit more complex and can be quite expensive. For many operators, the biggest expenses are not always the most obvious ones.
As shared mobility continues to grow across Europe, operators face increasing pressure to improve efficiency while maintaining service quality. According to the latest European Shared Mobility Index, shared mobility services generated more than 700 million trips across Europe in 2025, reflecting continued demand for alternative transportation options. At the same time, profitability remains one of the industry's biggest challenges.
Across more than 300 shared mobility projects worldwide, one pattern appears consistently: operators often underestimate operational costs during launch planning while focusing primarily on fleet acquisition, permits, and launch activities. The largest challenges often emerge later through day-to-day operations, where downtime, fleet balancing, maintenance, customer support, and compliance costs gradually impact profitability.
Downtime costs more than most operators expect
Every shared vehicle is an asset that only generates revenue when it is available to users. A scooter waiting for repairs, a bike with a flat tire, or a car that has not been inspected after damage generates no revenue at all. For example, a scooter generating an average of two rides per day at €3 per ride produces roughly €2,200 in annual revenue. If recurring maintenance issues keep that vehicle unavailable for two weeks each quarter, the shared mobility operator could lose more than €250 in annual revenue from that vehicle alone. Across hundreds or thousands of vehicles, downtime quickly becomes a significant operational cost.
Yet the costs continue to build up – insurance, depreciation, financing, storage, and operational overhead do not stop simply because a vehicle is unavailable.
This becomes particularly noticeable as fleets grow. A single inactive vehicle may not seem significant but hundreds of inactive vehicles spread across multiple cities quickly become a major financial problem.
That is why many operators invest heavily in fleet visibility and operational tools. Platforms such as ATOM Mobility's vehicle sharing software help operators monitor vehicle status in real time and identify issues before they affect large parts of the fleet.
Fleet balancing becomes a business of its own
One of the least visible costs in shared mobility is fleet redistribution. Users naturally travel between different parts of a city. Over time, vehicles begin clustering in some areas while disappearing from others. The result is familiar to most operators – too many vehicles where demand is low and not enough where demand is highest. Solving this problem requires people, vehicles, planning, and technology. Large operators often maintain dedicated teams responsible for things like fleet redistribution, battery swapping, charging operations, station monitoring and demand forecasting.
Academic studies of bike-sharing systems consistently identify balancing and redistribution as some of the biggest operational challenges because they directly affect both utilisation and customer satisfaction. When users cannot find a vehicle nearby, they often choose another transport option instead. It’s even more difficult during big events, tourist seasons, weather changes, and rush hours when demand patterns shift rapidly.
Charging operations can become a major expense
For operators managing electric scooters, bikes, and mopeds, battery charging creates another layer of operational complexity. Vehicles must be collected, charged, swapped, and returned to high-demand locations. Labour, logistics, warehouse space, charging infrastructure, and electricity costs all contribute to the overall cost of fleet operations.
As fleets grow, charging efficiency becomes increasingly important. Poor battery management can increase downtime, reduce vehicle availability, and create unnecessary operational costs. For operators managing thousands of electric vehicles, charging and battery-swapping operations can require dedicated teams, warehouses, charging infrastructure, and specialised software to coordinate daily tasks efficiently.
Small maintenance issues rarely stay small
Most vehicle problems start as minor issues but then become a bigger problem. A slightly damaged brake, a worn tire, a loose component, or a battery performing below normal levels may not immediately remove a vehicle from service. Left unresolved, however, these issues often become larger repairs that require more time, more money, and more operational effort.
For this reason, maintenance is no longer viewed as a reactive task by many successful operators. Instead, it is becoming an ongoing operational process supported by automation, diagnostics, and task management systems. So it’s important to identify problems before users do.
Many operators are moving toward more structured maintenance workflows, similar to the approaches discussed in ATOM Mobility's fleet management automation insights.
Customer support grows with every vehicle added
Customer support is often not thought enough about during launch planning. Founders typically focus on vehicles, apps, and pricing. Few spend enough time calculating the operational cost of helping users when things go wrong.
Support requests usually involve payment issues, failed unlock attempts, damaged vehicles, parking questions, account verification, trip disputes and other day to day problems. A fleet generating 100,000 monthly rides may receive hundreds or even thousands of support requests related to payments, parking violations, damaged vehicles, or account verification.
The cost of poor support is often higher than the cost of support itself because unresolved issues directly affect retention and reviews.
Regulation creates costs that did not exist five years ago
The shared mobility industry has grown significantly. A decade ago, many cities welcomed operators with relatively few requirements. Today, most cities expect detailed reporting, parking compliance, safety measures, accessibility standards, and operational transparency.
Operators increasingly need to invest in:
- reporting systems
- compliance processes
- city partnerships
- parking management
- operational monitoring
These requirements create additional costs, but they are quickly becoming part of doing business in the sector. At the same time, cities are becoming more selective about which operators receive permits and long-term partnerships, making operational quality an increasingly important competitive advantage.
The strongest operators focus on efficiency, not just growth
Hidden costs rarely appear in business plans or launch announcements. They emerge gradually through downtime, maintenance, balancing, customer support, charging operations, and compliance requirements. Individually, each cost may seem manageable. Together, they often determine whether a mobility business becomes profitable.
Shared mobility businesses often talk about fleet size, market expansion, and trip volume. The operators that build sustainable businesses tend to focus on a different set of metrics, including vehicle utilisation, downtime, maintenance efficiency, and operational automation. Growth still matters, but it becomes expensive quickly when operational control is lacking.
Across the shared mobility industry, operational excellence is increasingly becoming a stronger competitive advantage than fleet size alone.
How technology helps control hidden operational costs
Many of the hidden costs discussed in this article can be reduced through better operational visibility and automation. Modern mobility management platforms help operators monitor fleet health, detect issues before they lead to downtime, automate maintenance workflows, prioritise field operations, optimise redistribution using real-time demand data, coordinate charging and battery-swapping activities, automate refunds for unsuccessful rides, and generate compliance reports with no manual effort.
At ATOM Mobility, we've seen these challenges across more than 300 shared mobility projects worldwide. While every market is different, operators that invest in operational efficiency early are often better positioned to achieve sustainable growth and profitability.
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Blog
Shrink Scooters from UK taking home the main ATOM Mobility Hub prize
🔥 We're excited to announce that the first-ever "ATOM Mobility Hub" program has concluded with Shrink Scooters taking home the main prize 🎉
December 14, 2022
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🔥 We're excited to announce that the first-ever "ATOM Mobility Hub" program has concluded with Shrink Scooters taking home the main prize 🎉
ATOM Mobility will set them up with a free software solution for a year to accelerate the launching and growth of their business of bringing shared mobility to UK university campuses.
Congratulations also to the four runner-ups: Swap City, JETT, Mobi-EV, and Drop, as well as all the other teams successfully completing the program. 👏
We can't wait to see what you'll achieve in the future!
👏 Finally, we'd like to express our gratitude to the program's lead mentors and the program partners without whom the program would not be possible: Dr. Johanna Braun, Mario Gamper, KNOT // docking and charging for micromobility, Fluctuo, Funderbeam, ACTON, Anadue, Sumsub, movmi - Shared Mobility Consultants, Helve, EIT Urban Mobility
ATOM Mobility Hub is a free venture-building program meant to help ambitious entrepreneurs to build their mobility companies from zero. The nine-week programme ended with participant business pitches to mobility industry experts and investors on early December, 2022.
Read more:
https://labsoflatvia.com/en/news/student-led-company-triumphs-at-atom-mobility-hub
You can learn more about ATOM Mobility HUB here:
https://atommobility.com/hub
If you are interested to start your own vehicle sharing/rental business – head over here to request a demo and we'll get back to you as soon as possible.
Blog
ATOM Mobility offers an all-in-one mobility Super-app with its brand-new rental module
ATOM Mobility has broadened the scope of its services by adding rental software to its platform. The new module allows car, bike, and scooter rental companies to automate and digitalize their rental business with ATOM Mobility's platform which features digital ID verification, keyless vehicle access, calendar booking and prepayment, automated hand-off inspection, and much more.
November 10, 2022
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ATOM Mobility has broadened the scope of its services by adding rental software to its platform. The new module allows car, bike, and scooter rental companies to automate and digitalize their rental business with ATOM Mobility's platform which features digital ID verification, keyless vehicle access, calendar booking and prepayment, automated hand-off inspection, and much more.
This effectively allows ATOM Mobility customers to create an all-in-one Superapp for the on-demand mobility market, after the company also added ride-hailing/taxi software to its platform earlier in the year which gives companies easy-to-use solution to manage their customers, drivers, and operations, all from one place. The platform can facilitate virtually any vehicle, be it a scooter, bike, car, moped, or even golf cart, for on-demand short-term, one-off trips, as well as for month-long rentals, and everything in between.
It can benefit your mobility business, too
In addition to giving traditional vehicle rentals a simple and highly-efficient way to digitalize their operations and improve customer experience, integrating a rental module also serves to unlock new business opportunities.
Fleet owners can have all the different modes in one app, serving tourists and locals with the types of vehicles and services in need at any given moment, e.g. a scooter for a short trip on a sunny day, a taxi on a rainy one, and a rental car for a weekend getaway. Mobility service providers can mix and match the various modules to suit their offerings. For example, new market entrants can start with one operational model, and diversify their services as they grow by adding other modules to their existing app.
The rental business model doesn't necessarily require adding new vehicles – it has the potential to maximize revenue from existing services. For instance, bike rentals can benefit from adding rental options alongside their on-demand, free-floating model, by allocating part of their fleet for renting purposes. To illustrate, depending on the location, an e-bike could bring in 15-25 EUR when rented for a full day, as compared to an average of 3 EUR per on-demand ride, with one to five uses a day. Accordingly, the rental model can be more profitable for the operator, as well as more convenient for the user, as they get the bike for the full day.
Another chief benefactor of the new rental module is traditional car rental companies. For one, they can digitalize their operations and offer a fantastic, fully digital self-service experience to their customers, making it easier to pick up and drop off vehicles. Service digitalization also enables car rentals to open remote automated branches by partnering with hotels, parking lot owners, gas stations, etc. This may imbue extra convenience in your operations, as clients don't have to travel halfway across the city just to pick up their vehicle.
A solution that works for everyone
As with previous products, the rental module is fully white-label, allowing the app to be customized with your brand design and colors. All whilst offering a smooth and convenient in-app rental experience for your customers.
With ATOM Mobility's rental module, operators will also gain access to a powerful dashboard for managing their fleets, bookings, and customers. In it, you may:
- Track vehicle information in real-time, e.g. for cars – location, errors, battery/fuel level, odometer data, engine status, door status, and more,
- Set up your preferred pricing system, be it fixed, hourly, daily rental, distance-based, or otherwise,
- Get reports and analyses on everything from users and revenue to the utilization of vehicles by different periods, vehicle models, and locations,
- And more.
ATOM Mobility's all-in-one platform is the first of its kind, offering operators an opportunity to provide an excellent mobility service to their local community and visiting tourists. By listening to its customers and staying a few steps ahead of the market, ATOM was able to create a comprehensive, all-inclusive SuperApp. Accordingly, all components integrate seamlessly ensuring a smooth, hiccup-free, and user-friendly experience for both operators and their customers.
Learn more about different solutions and modules:
Vehicle sharing module (on-demand, mostly short trips): https://atommobility.com/products-share
Rental module (pre-booking, mostly weekly and monthly rentals): https://atommobility.com/products-rent
Ride-hailing/taxi module: https://ride.atommobility.com
Let us show you how it all works – head over here to request a demo and we'll get back to you as soon as possible.
Case study
Vift digitalized taxi business with the support of ATOM Mobility
How Vift grew their taxi business through digitising with ATOM Mobility
“Using ATOM Mobility's platform, we were able to open up our taxi business to an entirely different target market – younger people. We've been able to offer a more simplified booking process to continue offering quality service to our customers...”
“Using ATOM Mobility's platform, we were able to open up our taxi business to an entirely different target market – younger people. We've been able to offer a more simplified booking process to continue offering quality service to our customers, which is our guiding principle.” - Jamal, Founder and CEO of Vift
October 26, 2022
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“Using ATOM Mobility's platform, we were able to open up our taxi business to an entirely different target market – younger people. We've been able to offer a more simplified booking process to continue offering quality service to our customers, which is our guiding principle.” - Jamal, Founder and CEO of Vift
Experience in the taxi business: 6 years
Country: Sweden
Web page: https://viftmobility.com
App store: https://apps.apple.com/vn/app/vift/id1631027113
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=vift.app
As engineering students in the Swedish city of Örebro, just west of Stockholm, the Zindi brothers saw market demand and decided to launch their own taxi company. Starting six years ago, the business has grown to account for 8% of the local taxi market, attracting a higher-end clientele.
One year ago, founder and CEO Jamal Zindi was looking for opportunities to further grow his business. At the time, Vift operated as a classical taxi company – based on receiving phone calls and dispatching drivers. By using the ATOM Mobility platform, he was able to launch his own dedicated mobile app, which clients could use to directly order and pay for their taxis.
The effect of digitising his business was immediate – Jamal shares that they have received a considerable boost to business, as it opens the door to a new target audience. He shares that human behaviour regarding booking has changed. Many young people don't like picking up the phone to make a taxi booking, or people sitting in meetings aren't able to make a call. Having an app to offer makes all the difference.
Quality as a North Star
Jamal shares that throughout all of his journey as an entrepreneur, his guiding principle has always been to offer the best possible quality to clients.
“In the services sector, it's not about who offers it cheaper, it's who serves their clients better. We offer better cars, better drivers, better customer experience. If you do it better, people will be willing to pay a premium,” explains Jamal.
In the early days, Vift's differentiating factor was an improved experience. They, and their drivers, were from an academic background. They were younger than most taxi drivers in Örebro at the time, which Jamal considered an advantage. They were able to bring an improved customer experience to their clients, which was appreciated.
They aren't in a hurry to expand in size or geography. Jamal emphasises that they're looking to build a solid foundation and only then expand upon that.
“We don't want to start with too many cars. Our strategy is to build up the business in stages. Because if the foundation is strong, you will not fall. Once you have a system in place, it's easier to go to other cities.”
Vift has its own fleet of cars, and, using the ATOM Mobility platform, it can now onboard other drivers onto its platform. Though they're not in a hurry – they're establishing quality first and then will look beyond their borders.
Locally-owned as a key differentiator
The city of Örebro does not lack in its fair share of taxi sharing apps. They have Bolt, Uber, and others. But what Vift can offer and Uber can't, is hyper-local customer service – both for drivers and for end-customers.
“There are Bolt and Uber, they drive very cheaply. But the management and owners are not in Sweden. So if you have a question, you won't receive a response that fully understands your situation. People appreciate that we're from Sweden, that they can contact us, and that they can receive a response in their own language,” comments Jamal.
Using their competitive advantage, they believe that in just 2 years, they will be the biggest company in Örebro. And after that, they'll replicate their experience in other cities, still based on quality-over-quantity.
The secret to surviving in the taxi business – thinking 10 years ahead
One thing that sets Vift apart from traditional taxi services is their future-oriented mindset. Jamal shares that when making business decisions, he thinks about what will be relevant in 5-10 years' time. This way, he's able to stay ahead of the competition, and relevant to his customers.
One way this comes across is in the vehicles they choose.
“Right now, all of our cars are hybrid. But very soon we'll be switching to a fully electric vehicle fleet. It's the better choice – for business, for the environment. That is where mobility is heading, and that's where we have to be as well.”
When asked about his tips for other entrepreneurs looking to start their own taxi business, Jamal stays true to his values:
“Constant development. Professional standards. Work with the heart. Quality is what matters. Consider the future – if you only do things for today, then you'll fall down.”
Through working together, Vift has significantly increased its demand and revenue. Laying the strong foundation for digital services, Vift can now continue to build out the business and reach its goals of dominating the local market and expanding past its borders.
Learn more about ATOM Mobility ride-hailing and taxi platform here: https://ride.atommobility.com
Blog
ATOM Mobility Hub venture-building program selects 12 promising teams
Back in August, together with innovation management company Helve, we launched the open call for ATOM Mobility Lab, a FREE venture-building / accelerator program helping ambitious entrepreneurs to build mobility companies from ZERO in just 9 weeks. Along with October, comes the beginning of our 9-week program. Out of more than 100 applications, we have selected 12 teams from 11 countries developing various shared mobility, ride-hailing, and on-demand services. It's about time you meet them!
October 13, 2022
-- min. read
Back in August, together with innovation management company Helve, we launched the open call for ATOM Mobility Lab, a FREE venture-building / accelerator program helping ambitious entrepreneurs to build mobility companies from ZERO in just 9 weeks. Along with October, comes the beginning of our 9-week program. Out of more than 100 applications, we have selected 12 teams from 11 countries developing various shared mobility, ride-hailing, and on-demand services. It's about time you meet them!
Aver Mobility (Bulgaria) 🇧🇬
The utilitarian approach to shared mobility.
Aver Mobility is a car sharing company that’s involved in solving urban mobility challenges. Their mission is widening the adoption of shared mobility with greener means of transportation in Eastern Europe without requiring anyone to step out of their cars. As we all know the personal car is an irreplaceable limb for the average Eastern European. Aver Mobility knows that they couldn't influence that. They don’t want to do so, either. They want to step on that assumption but make it greener. The company will launch with a 100% EV fleet in Sofia (Bulgaria) and plans on replicating the same utilitarian approach while exporting the operational model in the rest of Eastern Europe.
ChargeM (Germany) 🇩🇪
All-inclusive Shared Micro-Mobility System for A2A models
ChargeM provides an end-to-end solution for you guests, employees, and tenants: E-Scooter, wireless charging station, app, labeling, and operations. The company allows locations to passively provide an extra mobility solution to profit from every ride.The system comes with a wireless charging infrastructure for shared e-scooters to significantly reduce costs for collecting/ swapping and recharging of the vehicles. Their automated charging solution will allow providers to reach profitability sooner and make micromobility more sustainable - ecologically, economically, and socially.
Dodai (Ethiopia) 🇪🇹
Affordable mobility ownership in Ethiopia
Dodai is an asset financing platform that offers underbanked customers access to life-enhancing products, and services. The company provides affordable mobility ownership for Ethiopian gig workers who intend to increase their earnings and comfort through the financing of electric two wheelers.
Drop (Romania) 🇷🇴
Electric last-mile deliveries
Drop is a one-stop-shop solution, which not only offers delivery as a solution, but covers a large range of other services such as rider supply management, operational lease and rental options for EVs and LEVs, micro fulfillment as a service, and OOH delivery.
EcoTaxi (Estonia) 🇪🇪
Safe, inclusive, and sustainable mobility
EcoTaxi is the first inclusive and sustainable logistics company in the Baltics that intends to solve emission problems by providing a platform for sustainable vehicles only. Their platform will actively reduce male to female assault by onboarding more female drivers and make accessibility easier for differently-abled persons. ExoTaxi's customers are people who care about the planet and are interested in using sustainable methods to get to wherever they need to go.
Greenclick (US) 🇺🇸
Disrupting over-the-counter desks with technology
Greenclick is scaling the on-site car rental market at hotels where >1% in the US offers car rental services out of 70k hotels. They're carving out a new car rental market by solving congestion, long lines and waiting at airports, and serving guests when all rental locations close, disrupting over-the-counter desks with technology. With their vertical, they're accelerating the adoption of electric vehicles and providing a broad consumer market with their first test drive of an electric car.
JETT (France) 🇫🇷
Rental subscription service without commitment
JETT is an e-moped rental subscription service without commitment. An easy and flexible, weekly or monthly, plan with no hidden or sign-up fees! They handle everything: insurance, maintenance, helmet, and even delivery to your doorstep! You just have to enjoy your own JETT!
MaaS in Tourism (Greece) 🇬🇷
Mobility app for tourists and citizens to use at their destination
MaaS in Tourism company’s app will integrate all the means of transport that are available in the tourist destination that will be developed with the main goal to minimize the use of cars with carbon emissions. They also want to promote the use of public transport combined with other eco-friendly mobility choices such as electric scooters or bikes. This will be a g2c/b2c product and the target group will be mostly municipalities in Greece that are tourist destinations and offer a variety of means of transport and services around mobility. The company wants to make the citizens love their city more and the tourists to enjoy their vacation in a more sustainable and fun way.
MobiEV (Egypt) 🇪🇬
Bringing micro-mobility and convenience to Egypt
MobiEV is on a mission to bring EV Micro-mobility to the Egyptian market of 100 million residents and 13 million annual tourists. Their aim is to pair convenience and pleasure into the service by strategically placing EVs servicing commercial and tourist hotspots. MobiEV will leverage technology, competitive energy prices, and 350 days of sunshine to provide sustainable shared mobility to their customers.
SHRINK Scooters (UK) 🇬🇧
The UK’s first student-run socially conscious scooter sharing platform
SHRINK Scooters are the UK’s first student-run socially conscious scooter sharing platform integrating students living in the peripherals of Durham city into university life. The company plans to involve a fleet of 30-40 scooters to begin with and are currently exchanging discourse with the University and, with the support of numerous consultants, are preparing to tackle the challenge of obtaining a license form the Council.
Sun Spirit (Latvia) 🇱🇻
Bringing sustainable water traffic to RigaSun Spirit believes that Riga has a resource that has not been properly used - the river Daugava. They want to build green, energy-powered, odorless, noiseless, modern, and sustainable traffic within the river and make it enjoyable for city residents and guests. Book on-the-go and hop-on or off whenever you want.
Swap-City (Latvia) 🇱🇻
Compact car-sharing at the lowest prices
Swap-City is a service based in Riga that specializes in electric car sharing, using only unique compact cars with swappable batteries. This makes these cars always available, never out of power. Most exterior and interior spare parts are made by a 3D printer. Light and small two-seater cars that can travel a distance of up to 150km. They bring the most compact cars, at the lowest prices!
During the next 2 months, these 12 teams will work closely together with our lead mentors Johanna Braun and Mario Gamper to successfully launch their businesses at the end of the program. The program will conclude with a demo day on December 1 (16:00 CET), during which, the teams will present their progress and business plans to a panel of jurors to battle for prizes in the value of up to 30k EUR provided by ATOM Mobility, Funderbeam, KNOT, ACTON, Fluctuo, Sumsum, and movmi.
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Driver App demo credentials - Email: test@atom.com, Password: driver
