Skip to main content

Uber to redirect focus to bikes and electric scooters

Uber intends to focus more on its electric scooter and bike business as it says individual modes of transport are better-suited to inner city travel. Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber’s CEO, believes users will make more frequent, shorter journeys in the future, the Financial Times reports. "During rush hour, it is very inefficient for a one-tonne hulk of metal to take one person ten blocks,” he says. Uber’s Jump electric bikes are now available in eight US cities such as San Francisco and Washington DC, and are
August 28, 2018 Read time: 2 mins

8336 Uber intends to focus more on its electric scooter and bike business as it says individual modes of transport are better-suited to inner city travel.

Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber’s CEO, believes users will make more frequent, shorter journeys in the future, the %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 link-external Financial Times Financial Times website link false https://www.ft.com/content/986d878a-a7c4-11e8-8ecf-a7ae1beff35b false false%> reports.

"During rush hour, it is very inefficient for a one-tonne hulk of metal to take one person ten blocks,” he says.

Uber’s Jump electric bikes are now available in eight US cities such as San Francisco and Washington DC, and are set to launch in Berlin.

The ride-sharing company has also joined forces with electric scooter company Lime.

Khosrowshahi recognises that Uber makes more money from a car journey than a bike trip - but says this would be offset as users engage with the app more regularly for shorter journeys.
"We are willing to trade off short-term per-unit economics for long-term higher engagement."

The move comes as Uber announced it was to supply its proprietary self-driving system to %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 link-external Toyota Sienna Minivans Uber website link false https://www.uber.com/newsroom/uber-toyota-team-self-driving-cars/ false false%>. “Rather than owning and operating the fleet of self-driving vehicles, these minivans will be owned and operated by an agreed upon third party, a new business model for Uber,” the company said in a statement.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • EU awards finalists announced
    February 26, 2014
    The European Commission has announced the six finalists of two awards which honour the actions of European cities in developing and promoting sustainable approaches to urban mobility. This year’s Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP) award recognises cities with SUMPs illustrating the ‘integration of economic, social, and environmental policy criteria’, the theme of the 2013 awards. The award is presented to local authorities which demonstrate excellence in developing and implementing their sustainable
  • Cigo! Will exhibit smart mobility management platform
    March 21, 2018
    Cigo! is using Intertraffic to present its smart mobility management platform that is designed with the intention of providing interaction between the backend and mobile app. Called Go!fleet, the solution is said to reduce costs, automating tasks, provide reports as well as create a communication network between users, clients, drivers and the back office to help reduce the impact of incidents. The product allows users to customise the routing algorithm by choosing more than 10 features offered which plans
  • ITS European Congress – iMobility events
    June 11, 2014
    The ITS European Congress 2014 in Helsinki will see a host of intelligent vehicle demonstrations, including the iMobility Challenge event, eco-driving test-drives and ecoDriver workshop. The iMobility Challenge on 16 June will present test drives and interactive displays of new vehicle technologies to all visitors from 12:00 to 19:00. After the opening ceremony at 14:15, a major highlight of the event will be the participation of Williams Mercedes F1 Driver, Valtteri Bottas, who will take a short driv
  • EasyMile partnership to bring autonomous technology to bus
    December 1, 2017
    EasyMile has partnered with Iveco, Sector, Transpolis, Isae-supaero, Ifsttar, Inria, and Michelin to integrate autonomous technology into a full-size 12-meter bus. The project has been funded by French government through a Fonds Unique Interministériel program as well as certified and supported by Cara, Aerospace Valley and Nouvelle France Industrielle. The 100-passenger capacity bus will either be hybrid or electric powered and draws on EasyMile’s experience of developing the EZ10 driverless shuttle in