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 👭 Just the two of us

The popularity of shared scooters has shown us that users love to ride them in couples or groups of friends. We also often see the same risks taken with shared bikes, whether this is to halve the cost of the trip, because of a shortage of vehicles, or maybe as a bit of “fun”.

Today, shared mopeds are the only vehicles that are built for two-person travel. This is precisely why operators like Yego have become popular among young people.

To do the same for bikes has posed challenges in manufacturing, operations, and safety. But pony launched a bike model called the Double Pony a few years ago - to allow 2 people to safely ride the same bike.

As part of their bid to bring bikes to Paris, Forest have revealed the ‘forest friend’. Unlike the Double Pony, it is not purpose-built. It involves structural additions to the traditional OKAI model that Forest use, with supports on the back wheel to allow a 2nd passenger seat to be placed. They also plan to launch these bikes with luggage racks and baby seats, for a more inclusive and multipurpose use.

🛴 Ryde & Voi tackle double riding

As we have already covered, it is illegal for two people to ride a scooter. In Norway, you can be fined 3000 NOK (€250) for doing so.

Plans for sensor technology to detect when two people are riding the same scooter has been long-awaited by local authorities, and it seems that Ryde and Voi have arrived there.

Both companies admit that they are still in a testing phase, and are unsure that it will work. Factors that may affect success include how users stand on the vehicle, and whether snow may interrupt with the sensors. As Tobias Balchen of Ryde says, “we're working both on improving the sensors and on developing algorithms that look at patterns throughout the journey that indicate that there is more than one person on the scooter”.

As one of the key problems why cities do not like scooters, let’s hope that this can be a breakthrough!

LAUNCHES AND EXPANSIONS 🚀

Bicicoruña 
Expansion in La Coruña (ES) 🚲 (300) 🅿️ (30)

Dott
Expansion in Turin (IT) 🚲 (500)

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CITY UPDATES 🌐

Duisburg (DE) | Scooter parking problems continue.

Florence (IT) | Ridemovi launch bikes with child seats.

Gaeta (IT) | Enquiry into bike-sharing system that disappeared a few months after launch in 2015.

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INDUSTRY NEWS 🗞️

Donkey Republic partner with Mastercard to provide contactless as a payment method.

Forest reveal plans to deploy a cargo bike in Paris, similar to the Double pony.

Italian Highway Code amendments will have zero tolerance on drugs, alcohol and mobile phones.

Ryde and Voi introduce sensors to detect and prevent double riding.

Volvo On Demand to shut, having not made a profit since its inception.

FREE NOW generated €56.8m in revenue in 2023, but posted a net loss of €131m.