micromobility

The use of electric scooters, electric bicycles, and other forms of small, lightweight transportation under the auspices of shared use, pay as you go, demand activated frameworks, designed for personal use. Examples include:

Electric scooters: apparent standup scooter using an electric motor. Usually designed with a large deck in the center on which the rider stands

Electric bicycles: a bicycle with an integrated electric motor to assist propulsion

Golf carts: a small lightweight vehicle originally designed to carry two golfers and golf bags around golf courses. They are also suitable for some types of urban trips. They are electric powered

Micro cars: small cars with an internal combustion engine of less than 700 cc

Segway: a two wheeled personal vehicle with the platform between the wheels in which the writer stands while holding onto the handlebars. The vehicle is controlled by the way the rider distributes their weight

Human powered scooters and bicycles also part of the original microtransit definition. However, except for cities in china, they have fallen from use in favor of electric power in urban areas.

Most of the micro transit currently available in cities around the world take advantage of means of electronic payment to enable what is known as the “dockless” strategy. The vehicles are left at strategic locations around cities with no physical or mechanical means of constraint. Users unlock use of the vehicle using a smart phone or a credit card, having previously registered for the use of the service. 

Vehicles are typically equipped with tracking systems that enable the vehicle speed and location to be determined. To address the issue of one-way journeys which eventually cause a displacement from the optimum deployment pattern, staff and vehicles are employed to redistribute the vehicles appropriately. A sophisticated reservation system can also be employed to enable users to make use of the vehicles and make electronic payments. More recently the definition of micromobility has been expanded to include the use of any vehicle smaller than a standard transit bus to provide on demand services. In the future, these will also include the use of automated shuttle vehicles for first mile, last mile connections to fixed route transit systems. These flexible transit options fit in the gap between the private car and standard transit.