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.

Urban Traffic Control

Related Content

  • November 17, 2016
    International Making Cities Livable Conference - call for papers
    The 54th International Making Cities Livable Conference takes place in New Mexico, USA on 2-6 October 2017, with the theme of public places for community, democracy, health and equity. Paper proposals are invited from elected officials, scholars and practitioners concerned with the issues such as active mobility, walkable ten minute commuting/reshaping suburbia, integrating public health and planning, health impact assessment and more. For more details and to submit a proposal, please see the confere
    Read More
  • February 10, 2017
    Flir webinar - TrafiOne: an introduction to Flir’s smart city sensor
    Flir Systems’ next webinar on 16 February at 0700 CEST provides an introduction to its TrafiOne detection sensor for traffic monitoring and dynamic traffic signal control. TrafiOne uses thermal imaging to detect the presence of pedestrians and cyclists that are approaching and waiting at the kerbside or walking on the crossing. The 45-minute webinar will discuss the basics and benefits of Flir’s smart city sensor and we will demonstrate its rich set of features. More information and registration deta
    Read More
  • August 2, 2018
    Hertz to provide operational services for Aptiv AVs, Las Vegas
    Car rental company Hertz has partnered with Aptiv to help operate and manage the technology firm’s autonomous vehicles (AVs) in Las Vegas. The initiative is set to launch this autumn and is intended to serve as a guide for the implementation of similar projects in future markets. Aptiv made 30 AVs available to Las Vegas riders using Lyft’s app in May.
    Read More
  • January 7, 2016
    Flir Academy training courses
    FLIR Traficon Academy is organising a variety of online training in January 2016, including ITS solutions for traffic management and Flir ThermiCam, where participants can learn how its ThermiCam/TrafiSense sensor can be used for pedestrian presence detection, bicycle presence detection, vehicle presence detection, inverse direction detection, and data collection. The company is also offering traffic training on intersections and crossings in May. Visit the Flir website for more information on the ran
    Read More

Highlighted Content