Insights and news from the ATOM Mobility team

Vehicle sharing is picking up a vehicle in a convenient location, getting to the destination, and leaving it there for other people to use. Ride-hailing is using a private driver to reach the destination. The only exception, in this case, is that the driver is not always a taxi driver – it could be the person that is offering the service in a private car. Both of these services are examples of shared mobility. The current trend is that those who have launched one are adding to their portfolio another in some shape or form. So we at ATOM Mobility are moving towards service integration in the micromobility business.

It all started with Uber in 2018 when the company announced that the dockless bike-sharing company Jump had started to partner with its ride-hail app. For users, this move has made it easier to plan the first or the last mile of the trip. Later that year Lyft acquired Motivate (Citi Bike), the largest bike-share operator in North America, and announced an investment of $100 million into the dramatic expansion of Citi Bike in New York City with the additional benefit for users, whereby they can access bikes directly via the Lyft app. At the end of 2020, this trend reached Europe when Bolt announced that it was preparing to invest €100 million in electric scooters and bikes. Bolt initially was called Taxify and was founded with the vision of aggregating all Tallinn and Riga taxis on one platform. Later the company expanded to other cities but initially focused only on ride-hailing.

This trend is expanding, because this is a logical next step – the synergy between ride-hailing and vehicle sharing offers users an easy and convenient way to get from point A to point B. Whereas for operators this constitutes a perfect opportunity to diversify their services, as well as to strengthen their positions in the market. Vehicle sharing is no longer just a means of transportation ordered via the app. It has become the opportunity for users to plan their trips. However, from a business perspective, operators should not jump into new opportunities as they appear and diversify their services too early without additional funding. Launching new verticals should be well-calculated.

Following this trend, ATOM has launched a new product - a ride-hailing and taxi platform that can be easily integrated with the existing scooter, bike, moped, and car-sharing software provided to customers worldwide. The ATOM ride-hailing platform can also be started as a separate business and not limited to cars or taxis. A ride-hailing service can be provided by vans, rickshaws, boats, as well as any other means of transportation you can think of. And this is the fastest way for potential customer to enter new market or just test the idea. The approach developed by ATOM helps to open new business verticals at low cost and furthermore it is easier to scale from there. Moreover, there is a logical synergy between scooter, bike, car-sharing users, and ride-hailing.

Software for ride-hailing and taxi industries

This development seems like a perfect next step for ATOM Mobility - the company that started its business in 2019 by providing the first vehicle-sharing opportunities in the Latvian capital, Riga. Subsequently, ATOM Mobility has focused on software development and now provides other companies in more than 70 cities worldwide with the software to run their car sharing, bikes sharing, scooter sharing, forklift sharing, golf cart sharing, boat sharing, and other businesses. Our mission at ATOM has always been to support different types of businesses and help them succeed with all the knowledge that we have gained through our clients and ourselves. This is the path we are going to take in the future by following trends and not leaving our clients behind. 

If you are interested to launch your own ride-hail or taxi platform, you can find more information here: https://ride.atommobility.com

ATOM mobility, the company that helps to build a micromobility business, has just launched the ATOM Academy. The goal is to educate people, who are willing to start a business in this specific field or improve operations.

“The whole idea of ATOM is to provide more than just software. And the ATOM Academy is one step closer to the goal. We want to educate our customers, as well as provide them with an understanding of what is available out there and how all these technologies can help them to be more efficient in their business,” says Jürgen Sahtel, Head of the ATOM Academy. 

The content is based on extensive knowledge of various industry leaders as well as ATOM's own insights from operating the first scooter-sharing business in Riga, Latvia. Moreover, during the process of creating the academy program, ATOM interviewed its customer base so it got valuable feedback about what its customers would be interested in. However, the focus is on topics that could save customers time and money in this business. 

Help for beginners, valuable at any stage

At first, the idea was that the ATOM Academy would be a great help to ATOM customers. Most of them are at a very early stage - they buy software and hardware from the manufacturer. However, maybe they still don’t know exactly how to run this business. The ATOM Academy is there to help them figure it out: “There are situations in which entrepreneurially-minded people visit a city and see scooters. Then they go back to their city and decide that vehicle sharing should also be available in their small community. So how can they make this happen? In most cases, they don't know anything about procedures or best practices or what is actually needed to make this scenario a reality. The ATOM Academy is intended to help with that. So when a new customer comes along, he can have a blueprint to follow based on industry standards and knowledge, as well as contacts of people that might help,” says Jürgen. 

The content is tailored for all stages of companies, including larger ones that want to expand their businesses to different cities and countries. All the content at ATOM Academy is available in video format through the website. There are currently three blocks of content - getting started, launching and operations, as well as optimization and growth. Overall, 15+ units are available with an average length of 35 minutes, so it would take few weeks to a month to go through all ATOM Academy courses. It is recommended that participants watch at least one video in two days and take notes. Afterward, it is possible to arrange a meeting with Jürgen at any time to discuss questions that arise along the way. 

Industry experts available free of charge

All lectures are in the format of conversations with the leading experts in shared micromobility. They have all launched successful businesses in the field. For example, Polina Mikhaylova is a co-founder of KNOT - the company that designs, produces, and installs docking stations for scooter services. Sébastien Marteau is responsible for business development at Fluctuo. The company aggregates more than 200 shared-mobility fleets and provides insights into a target city's shared mobility metrics and trends allowing operators to prepare successful launches. Please visit the ATOM Academy website, where you will find the list of experts.

And that's not all. Jürgen says that since the shared mobility industry is evolving fast, there will be new ways to optimize the operations, and the ATOM Academy will make sure to keep its students up to date. “For example, now MaaS is a big thing. In addition, we have created a feedback system for ATOM Academy users so they are able to provide feedback about subjects they would like to know more about,” says Jürgen. Furthermore, he emphasizes that all this content could be useful for those still considering setting up a micromobility sharing business.  

The ATOM Academy is free of charge for existing customers. “But, if there is someone, who is seriously considering starting a business then, we have an option to offer to go through the ATOM Academy content with a small one-time investment, which will later be deducted from the software price. So it’s an investment as well as a commitment,” explains Jürgen.

Apply for the ATOM Academy by filling in the application form here.

The more help we expect from technologies, the more we should pump it up with data. For example, if we want to know precisely when public transport will be the most crowded or at what time a particular street will have the heaviest traffic, we have to provide algorithms with as much data as possible about people’s movements. If we have enough data sources and information that can be easily shared, then it’s not a problem. Data will help to make our lives easier. 

Vehicle sharing and micro-mobility solutions are becoming more popular each year while expanding in more and more cities and countries all over the world. All these platforms and solutions create a certain amount of data. When used properly, it can help to improve everyday life in the city. 

MaaS solutions collects data from several service providers

Mobility as a Service (MaaS) providers are a perfect source of data. MaaS solutions integrate various forms of transport services into a single mobility service accessible on demand. These different transport forms include public transport, as well as ride, car, and bike-sharing. In some cases, this might include data about taxis and car rental services. 

Source - https://www.trafi.com/jelbi-tender

The idea behind MaaS is that everything is available inside a single application. So there is no need to pay for each service separately. Moreover, there are different payment plans available – a monthly subscription model with a fixed monthly fee or “pay-as-you-go”, where each leg of the booked trip is priced separately.

In 2021 several interesting and significant MaaS partnerships were announced in Europe. One example is the partnership between the public transport company Arriva Nederland (part of Arriva Group, a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn), and Moovit - the MaaS solutions specialist owned by Intel. This collaboration has made a new nationwide MaaS solution available to employers in the Netherlands with the chance to provide their staff with a mobility budget for their commuting, business, and private journeys. The MaaS app is called Glimble and it is planning to expand in Belgium, as well as in parts of Germany. 

Earlier last year, Swiss Federal Railways - public transport operators in Zurich, Basel, and Bern - created a MaaS solution yumuv. It is the first regional MaaS with subscriptions and is powered by Trafi. In less than two months, yumuv was downloaded by almost 1,000 individuals who made nearly 2,000 rides in Zurich alone. Almost 200 subscribers opted for different subscription packages.

https://www.polisnetwork.eu/article/zurich-basel-bern-bring-new-maas-solutions

This graph by the yumuv app shows how much information can be obtained from one source of the MaaS solution. It is possible to follow people’s movement, the most popular routes to get from point A to point B, as well as the choice of the vehicles along the way. So this data is indispensable.

The more the user is willing to share data, the more he gets in return. This case is no exception. With the development of MaaS, users of the solution get more freedom to choose while moving in the city. Basically, the user can decide on its own terms without the need to switch apps or platforms. Various vehicle options and different service providers are available on one unified interface. The choice between the fastest or the cheapest option is behind the user. As everything is integrated into one app (citymapper, Moovit), it is efficient and fast to also include public transport in the trip. 

Google Maps and Moovit - on their way to becoming MaaS?

Recently all the biggest players in the micro-mobility market have moved to where most people are looking for commuting solutions. It all started with Bird, Lime, Waybots (Skip), and Spin joining Transit app in April 2018. Afterward, In Europe, CityMapper added the two biggest bike operators Ofo and Mobike in June 2018. Soon after, CityMapper announced several integrations for bike, moped, and scooter operators, such as Jump, Lime (at that time separate), and Nextbike; Spin, and Bird scooters; and Cooltra, Coup, and ZigZag mopeds. 

The next big thing that happened was the exclusive partnership between Google Maps and Lime that started at the end of 2018 and lasted 2,5 years. It was the integration for short-distance trips, only eight months after Lime started to provide e-scooter services. The company announced that the app shows scooters and bikes nearby in the “transit” tab, as well as via “walking” and “cycling” tabs. The app displays information about each vehicle - distance, price, and battery range. 

Moovit was the first MaaS company to add routes for cyclists and it happened back in 2018. The company started its partnerships with GoTo, Donkey Republic, Mimoto, Mobike and Bird, Circ, Hive, and several others in 2019. Moovit added more partnerships in 2021 - Beryl in February, Beam in May, and Voi, Tier, Spin, and Getaround the following months ending with Lime in July. This latest deal affected 20 countries and 117 cities including the United States, South America, Australia, and Europe.

FreeNow started first with the integration of its own Hive brand (now defunct), as well as VOI, BOND, Emmy, and MILES in 2020. In the first half of 2021, it continued with adding Tier and Cooltra, in 2022 - Zipp Mobility. 

With big players constantly joining Google Maps and Moovit, these platforms have become MaaS trip planning solutions. The only difference is that it is not possible to pay for the trip via these services so they are not classical MaaS solutions. However, they offer a huge benefit in the form of an extensive user database, as well as users’ habits to plan their trips via these platforms. More reach means more customers. And another important benefit for micro-mobility service providers using MaaS solutions is cross-promo possibilities.

GBFS data - future of city planning 

It is in the interests of many parties involved to make micro-mobility data available, so there are organizations that focus on that. What this means for you as a service provider - you can spend weeks integrating with each app-aggregator such as Google, or you can use the standard approach by GBFS. This offers the opportunity to join any app aggregator (Google, Movit, city apps) in a few days with no coding at all. And it doesn't matter what micro-mobility service you are providing.

What is GBFS? It is a leading global initiative created by NABSA - North America Bikeshare and Scootershare Association. GBFS is General Bikeshare Feed Specification. A team of bike-share system owners and operators, application developers, and technology vendors developed GBFS and it was later adopted by over 600 bike-share and scooter systems worldwide. The latest version was released in April 2021.

GBFS defines a common format to share the real-time status of a shared mobility system. The purpose of data specification is to enable the exchange of information between multiple parties in a manner that ensures that all parties agree on what the information represents. The GBFS format allows mobility data to be used by a range of software applications for trip planning, research, analysis, visualization, and regulation. This publicly available data allows regulators, researchers, and community members to gain insights that have helped municipalities meet their goals.

GBFS includes information about vehicles (bicycles, scooters, moped, and cars), stations, dock locations, and availability. There is also information about vehicle characteristics including their type of power and the distance that can be traveled on the remaining charge. Geofenced areas are also included in this set of information, i.e. data about rules related to speed, parking, and prohibited zones.

So what's in the data available for the city? If we specifically talk about information about cars, it is now possible to quickly convert car trips to electric vehicle trips. Questionnaire data in the US shows that this occurs with approximately 30% of all rides. If this is too specific for you, bear in mind that any insights are potentially going to provide the opportunity to optimize the city’s infrastructure and help to make the city more user-friendly and sustainable. And as we all know, this and any other innovations will most likely help to grow the city’s reputation worldwide. 

During the pandemic, Kyiv - the capital city of Ukraine - has changed. The local government decided to increasingly focus on the green course by creating a huge amount of bicycle lanes. Even big streets were transformed into two-lane streets and cycling lanes were added. It is a real micro-mobility service paradise, isn't it? Service providers – both global brands and small local companies - responded quickly and took the opportunity to run their businesses there. One of them is Zelectra - a company created by locals, which has just finished a very successful first season.

Launch date: Spring 2021
Country: Ukraine
Fleet: 300 scooters and 350 mopeds
Web page: https://zelectra.com.ua/en/
Team: 25+ team members
Cool fact: 2,500 rides were taken on 250 scooters in 1 day
App Store: https://apps.apple.com/ua/app/zelectra/id1545583319?l=ru
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ride.app

Sergey and Eugine - co-founders of Zelectra - have been friends since childhood. The idea of a micro-mobility business came about when one of their friends told them he had contacts with the manufacturer in China that could provide vehicles if they are interested in starting a business in Kyiv. “We have never worked with scooters before, but thought that we could try to offer a last-mile service. That's how it all started. However, in the beginning, we laughed about the idea and went in separate directions. But somehow this idea didn't let us go. Then we decided to do the calculations. That was the moment when we became really interested in developing a solution,” explains Eugine. This all happened at the beginning of 2019. At the end of the year, both friends understood that they would launch a micro-mobility business in 2020. 

Learning together with the local government

The decision was made to launch in Kyiv - the city familiar to both of them. They hoped to be the first, but unfortunately, the pandemic slightly changed their plans. Global micro-mobility service provider Bolt launched in 2020, while four other companies followed in 2021. One was Zelectra. “The reason we started later was due to technical challenges, as well as some challenges while ordering vehicles. Of course, we had heard that there might be hurdles, but we didn't realize what they really meant,” Eugine recalls. For example, banks were looking at their potential business and thought that they were crazy. They didn't want to take the newly-formed team seriously. 

“It was the same story with the government. When they got familiar with Bolt, they had a very poor understanding of what a micro-mobility service is. The scooter as a vehicle was not subject to any regulation. It does not count as transport, and what is an actual micromobility solution? Does the rider need a license? Where is it possible to drive? Are helmets mandatory? Where can vehicles be left? It was a similar story with the electric mopeds with 3kw power that we also offered - they did not correspond to any norms. When we put those vehicles on the street for the first time, we were told that we were breaking the law. Our vehicles didn't have number plates. People were driving all over the place and leaving vehicles on sidewalks. We explained to the government that none of the means of transportation were defined by regulations and finally they accepted this. So now we are growing together,” says Eugine. “On the one hand, we have some additional duties imposed by the government. On the other, the government is helping us a lot. The development of a huge number of cycling lanes changed the attitude of locals not only towards riding bicycles, but also scooters. It was no longer considered to be something weird.” 

Hired 26 people on the spot

Zelectra was the smallest company in the market with the fewest vehicles - 300 scooters and 350 mopeds. The company bought scooters from the manufacturer in China, whereas the mopeds were manufactured locally. They didn't build a software platform from scratch. They used the ATOM Mobility solution. Eugene explains that it was important for them to find a reliable partner and not to struggle with development as they were not sure that they could easily find a common language with developers.

“All that we heard and all that we have been told before - it doesn't work that way here in Kyiv. We talked a great deal with different European companies. And what we said is that we, in contrast to them, have to be available 24/7. Our vehicles are often stolen. They have been thrown into the River Dnepra. That's why the first month was tough - we gradually realized that it was one situation how we had imagined things would be, but the reality was completely different. We suddenly had to collect a team of 26 people. We had to buy cars and brand them for the team to be able to serve all vehicles. We paid all our taxes and during the season we succeeded in building a really good team where everyone felt needed,” says Sergey.

“Looking back at our first season, I would say that we are happy that we didn't embarrass ourselves,” adds Eugine. “Our app has 10,000 downloads. We succeeded in creating the rhythm of changing batteries and making vehicles available on streets that are fully operational. By the way, battery life is not as long as the manufacturers had said it would. Batteries had to be changed twice as often. However, during the best day of the season, 2,500 rides were taken on 250 scooters. And this is what we are really proud of, because it is not easy to always find our scooters, but people were apparently looking for them.” 

Here to stay for the greener future

Zelectra doesn't reveal the exact number of vehicles they are preparing for the next season, but the amount is going to be significantly higher. In addition, they are planning to launch their service in three to four new cities in Ukraine. “We are here to stay. We do really care about our service, because we want Kyiv to become a green city. We hope that the fact that we are here has also helped the local government to rethink infrastructure, as well as its attitude towards the environment. If we get the chance, we would like to have an all-electric business of scooters, bikes, mopeds, electric cars. We will try to expand and use everything electric to help Kiev become a greener city,” says Eugene, revealing the company’s mission.