The micromobility revolution is sweeping Europe, it’s time to get on board

From the very early days of Voi, we envisioned a world where cities were no longer congested and polluted, where roads weren’t clogged up with idling or parked cars, and people instead could walk, scoot or cycle freely around. Last week we hit a major milestone on the way to achieving this vision, with 100 million rides taken using our e-scooters and e-bikes across Europe since we launched in August 2018.

To say we’re delighted is an understatement. From that first ride in Stockholm on a sunny summer’s day to spreading the Voi micromobility revolution to over 80 towns and cities across 11 countries, people are relying on Voi every day to go to university, travel to work, run errands or go to visit their friends.

Lockdown behaviour

During the last year alone, when so much of Europe was in and out of Covid-19 lockdowns, our ride count more than tripled to hit a peak of 300,000 rides on one single day as people turned to this socially distanced and environmentally-friendly form of travel.

For the millions of Voi riders across Europe, micromobility represents freedom to travel around their city in the way they want. On average, more than 16 per cent of short car journeys are being replaced with our e-scooters and e-bikes and that’s up to 39 per cent in some countries like the UK. This saves thousands of tonnes of CO2 emissions and harmful particles from entering the atmosphere.

Pavement riding, problems with parking and accessibility concerns continue to affect all players right across the industry

In Germany, we’ve found that partnerships between public transport networks and e-scooters can lead to a 35 per cent increase in public transport ridership. Millions of people are discovering that you don’t need to have a car to travel around the city and instead you can experience more of the place you live by being more present in your surroundings.

We’d like to say it’s all been smooth sailing since August 2018, but as with any new form of technology, there are learning curves when it comes to riders, regulators and other road users. Pavement riding, problems with parking and accessibility concerns continue to affect all players right across the industry. That being said, we’ve achieved some major developments along the way to tackle these issues.

Artificial intelligence

Last year we became the first micromobility operator to test the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and computer vision to improve the safety of e-scooter rides, with the launch of a trial with the AI startup Luna in Northampton. We’ve introduced parking racks across Europe to improve parking, including a series of racks designed with the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) in the UK that help those with visual impairments identify this infrastructure.

We also launched a pilot to add artificial noise to e-scooters to alert pedestrians and other road users that a vehicle is approaching. We’re committed to making our vehicles safer and more environmentally friendly. Our V5 model, just launched, contains double the proportion of recycled materials. It’s also been designed for ease of repairs and reuse of parts, so we can keep each vehicle working for longer.

In Germany, we’ve found that partnerships between public transport networks and e-scooters can lead to a 35 per cent increase in public transport ridership

All this is part of our mission to create a micromobility revolution that people can get behind. Everything we do at Voi is part of our commitment to replacing one billion car rides across Europe by 2030 and making shared mobility the safest, most efficient and enjoyable way to travel.

It took us three years to reach 100 million rides, but we’re already well on our way to the next 100 million. We’re excited to see where the next part of the journey will take us and it’s a privilege to have millions of people along with us for the ride.