Morning Commute 1/10

The Fat Tire Tweet

The Morning Commute is an occasional look at meetings or other #BikeSpecific discussions and stories happening in the District. It also looks at interesting bike, scooter, or urban related ideas or concepts from other places across the globe that could possibly work here. Again, this isn’t journalism, just fun.

Today’s commute includes:

  • A scooter climate
  • Lime is feeling the squeeze
  • Registration for the DC Bike ride opens February 5

Lime is better that climate change could propel the scooter market. Lime, on the one hand, is fairly optimistic regarding the future of the e-scooter sharing market globally as people residing in cities move away from cars.

According to an article in Gulf News, In Dubai, where Lime recently began operation in November, every fourth trip on a Lime e-scooter comes from a car trip, meaning that 25 percent of users are opting for a scooter to ditch what would have been a car ride — be it on a privately-owned car or on a taxi.

The story goes on to discuss the successes and impediments to operating in the United Arab Emirates including poor micro-mobility infrastructure, regulations and issues regarding profitability. However, Lime predicts that as e-scooters help complete the “last Mile” from transit to work, home or elsewhere in an efficient, fast and affordable way. GulfNews

Conversely, Lime is laying off 14 percent of its workforce and leaving 12 markets. First reported in Axios, Lime is laying off approximately 100 staff as it attempts to reposition itself globally.

According to the article, Lime is not the only micro-mobility company apparently struggling to operate as Bird, Scoot, Lyft, and Skip have all held layoffs or retreated from certain markets over the past year and many of these companies have posted significant monetary losses as they attempt to manage vehicle attrition, labor costs, and regulatory challenges. Axios

Fairfax County gets a new advocate. Introducing Matt Roberts as the new executive director of the Fairfax Alliance for Better Bicycling. Connection

The DC Bike ride Returns. The annual DC Bike ride will happen Saturday, May 16 and registration opens February 5th. No word on cost.

According to the website:

We are thrilled to announce that DC Bike Ride will be back on May 16, 2020, better than ever. That’s right, your favorite spring bike ride comes back with course improvements, new offers on registration, and a redesigned Finish Festival for a big 5th-anniversary celebration.
 
REGISTRATION OPENS ON FEBRUARY 5TH 8AM EST! Save the date  and join us on the best way to enjoy life on two wheels. DC Bike Ride

When you put the idea of “a bike” in the place of “a car”, magic happens. In “the District can do better news”, The District currently sits at about 5 percent of commute trip completed by bike. With in the United States, that places the city among the top ten in the nation.

The New York Times reports that 49 percent of all journeys to school and work in Copenhagen now occur by bicycle, an increase of 13 percent from a decade ago. Copenhagen city government recently surveyed cyclists on what inspires them to bike, 55 percent said it was more convenient than the alternatives. Only 16 percent cited environmental benefits.

More importantly, once the infrastructure is in place and the auto-centric culture is significantly altered, nearly any type of trip can be made by bike – even trips to the funeral parlor. New York Times

App helps users identify bad drivers. According to the app description, the Ourstreets is an award-winning app that allows users to quickly report dangerous driving behavior like blocking of bike lanes and crosswalks. From local residents to commuters, pedestrians to transit riders, users can report vehicles that put people at risk.

Once an infraction is entered, the app provides an instant update on the vehicle’s outstanding parking and traffic camera citations via publicly-available data. Behind the scenes, OurStreets integrates with relevant public and private stakeholders, such as advocacy organizations, parking enforcement, transportation departments, and shared mobility partners fleets in supported cities.

Additionally, the app also allows for reporting of shared mobility issues (ie scooters blocking sidewalks) by using QR codes to ensure accountability.

Ourstreets is based on the twitter bot, How’s My Driving DC, which allows users to track drivers who commit potentially dangerous actions by it let frustrated cyclists and pedestrians tweet out a license plate and get back a record of unpaid citations from the District’s public-facing database.

The app is available for iOS and Android and is available now. Fastcompany

Tweet of Zen: