Long gone are the days where cycling was merely a sport for professional athletes or a pastime for kids in rural neighborhoods. Riding a two-wheeled vehicle nowadays is considered serious business and urban dwellers zipping through traffic are the cool kids on the block. But how did we get from driving expensive cars to pedaling a bicycle through downtown on a Friday night to grab dinner with friends? Perhaps the traffic was driving people crazy (no pun intended). And let’s not forget about the air pollution — everyone is literally sick and tired of all the smog. But let’s shift gears for a second and contemplate another perspective: progression. It’s important to understand that we’ve evolved. We value different things as a society now. We’ve become a little more conscious of our health and even our environment. We seek a better world where sustainability is a part of our daily lives. But how do we become the change we want to see in a world full of overpopulated cities and outdated infrastructure? We can start by introducing shared mobility services to major cities in every country. A different mode of transportation might not solve all of our global problems but it’s certainly a step forward in the right direction. This finally leads us to YerevanRide, a bike and scooter sharing program making waves in the capital of Armenia. Welcome to an era of urbanization where micro-mobility is the future.
What is Micro-mobility?
Micro mobility refers to a range of small, lightweight vehicles that operate at speeds typically below 25 km/h. Major parts of the micro mobility industry are bike sharing and scooter sharing. These are alternative modes of transportation that came to replace cars for short-length trips. Among many benefits of the bike sharing industry, eco-friendliness, cost-effectiveness, and health advantages for the users are the most obvious ones. Furthermore, many local businesses, such as hotels, benefit from collaborating with bike sharing and scooter sharing companies as well. For example, hotels can offer their guests the bike sharing services of ANIV, one of the top bike sharing companies, as an easy and fast way to move around the city. ANIV is a bike sharing and scooter sharing company, which not only gives the opportunity to rent an electric bike or scooter for a particular period of time but also serves as a platform for building your own bike sharing app. With the customizable dashboard and many tools available once you register, ANIV helps create an e-scooter sharing and bike sharing platform in a matter of minutes. For example, YerevanRide has used the platform to give customizable pricing options to users. People can buy 1-day or 3-day passes, as well as monthly and annual plans.
ANIV’s innovative software was presented at a micromobility conference this year in the Bay Area, where early-stage tech start-ups pitch their ideas to a panel of judges. YerevanRide is one of the projects that represent the user-friendliness and technological advancement of ANIV. To illustrate one example of the user-friendliness of this bike sharing app, YerevanRide gives users the opportunity to pay a flat fee for the whole day and enjoy the ride without worrying about time constraints.
To dive deeper into the micromobility industry and understand its growing importance, let’s discuss the specific case of YerevanRide, as well as look at the functionalities that ANIV offers to other bike sharing companies for the easy and hassle-free launch of their own apps.
Micro Mobility and Cities
Depending on the city, the transportation infrastructure is different and unique. For example, there are cities that have a very advanced, fast, and efficient underground transportation system. At the same time, there are cities that offer affordable taxi services to move around. These factors make it very hard to choose a single transportation system and apply it to different cities. However, micro mobility solutions can easily be adapted by any infrastructure, as they are an added asset and not a liability. Let’s discuss this from the perspective of YerevanRide.
Yerevan is the capital of Armenia and has the highest urbanization rate in the country. With the recent increase in the number of cars in the streets, the number of hours spent in traffic has increased incrementally as well. Furthermore, the public transportation system is not sophisticated enough to handle the easy and efficient transportation of the whole population. And even though there are mobile taxi services available, during rush hours both the rates and the wait time increase substantially. These are the reasons why YerevanRide became popular in the city after a very short while. In addition to the many benefits for the user, electric bikes and electric scooter sharing markets offer many advantages to the cities as well, mostly in regards to eco-friendliness. With no greenhouse gas emissions, these modes of transportation are better for the environment than cars or even different types of public transport.
Why YerevanRide Chose ANIV
After looking at micromobility in general, let’s now focus on the case of ANIV and YerevanRide specifically. ANIV is available in more than 25 languages and can be downloaded both from Google Play Store and Apple Store. After downloading the app, the user has access to all the services that this bike sharing app offers. Furthermore, there are tutorials available in the local language of the region to make sure that users are completely familiar with the platform and its functionalities. After signing up, there is a need to choose the payment method. YerevanRide offers different types of payment plans, based on the frequency of use of the bike sharing and scooter sharing services. Furthermore, YerevanRide made the payment options local to the Armenian market as well. If the user does not have a credit card, they can pay through the TelCell terminal system, which is available in every corner of the city.
YerevanRide and many other global projects of ANIV once again demonstrate the micro mobility market growth and the importance of going global, yet staying local. That is why this bike sharing company also offers the Operations app, which is intended for launching your own micro mobility business through the platform. The Operations app includes many tools such as team management, a one-click scanning control panel, and predicted demand forecasting.
So why should you choose to launch your micro mobility business through the ANIV platform? Besides the advanced toolkit available, the ANIV app allows making several franchises in the same city through scaling the network. Through advanced AI technology, the fleet is being controlled to make sure that it is as efficient as possible.
Now, let’s look at the four major steps that are required to make a successful launch, like YerevanRide, into the micro mobility market. The first step is to emphasize the business model. Some questions to ask at this stage refer to the operations of the company, the types of vehicles that will be offered for rent through the app, as well as some additional services for corporate customers who want to invest in micro mobility systems. The second step is to build the roadway or the fleet. This is important to ensure that the user experience of bike sharing or scooter sharing is efficient and not time-consuming. At this stage, it is also important to figure out the parking locations for the vehicles as well. The third step is the customization of the platform according to the branding guidelines of your company. Lastly, controlling the platform and following the analytics available in the ANIV app are relevant steps that always need to be taken.
Urban Development
Micro mobility industry analysis show that bike sharing models can make urban transportation more efficient. However, in terms of both bike sharing systems and electric scooter sharing system, efficiency refers to short-distance trips. That is why many bike sharing companies choose to launch in different cities to expand their market share and revenue. It is fair to also note that micro mobility services may not be applicable to all cities. Depending on the infrastructure of the city, the same bike sharing or scooter sharing services differ. However, there are some common benefits that the industry offers, no matter the place of operation.
The first benefit of the micro mobility sharing industry for the end users is the speed and ease of moving around. With the growing number of cars in the streets, traffic has become a serious issue. Furthermore, the problem of parking has increased in importance as well which is an additional time-wasting activity that car drivers have to deal with. On the other hand, bike sharing and scooter sharing services give the opportunity to avoid traffic jams, save time and not worry about the parking issue. For example, YerevanRide offers several parking spots for bikes and scooters in almost all districts of Yerevan, which makes it very easy to both pickup and drop off the e-bike or the e-scooter.
Lastly, while talking about the micro mobility industry, it is impossible not to mention the effects of COVID-19 on the sector in general. However, in the case of bike sharing and scooter sharing, the effects are not at all negative. Because of the fear of getting infected, many people chose not to use public transport anymore. At the same time, not everyone could afford to buy a car, which led to an increase in demand for alternative transportation methods, which are affordable and safe. This is when many electric scooter sharing companies, like ANIV, saw an opportunity and decided to expand their operations to different cities.
Judging from the example of YerevanRide, we can conclude that the micro mobility market is expanding globally, which brings new opportunities to traditional transportation companies. To learn more about how your city can become a part of this growing industry, contact us through our website.
