Taking the long view on short trips

Check out our new Discussion Paper on Shared Micromobility, just released!

Shared micromobility became a hot topic for many cities when the ‘invasion’ of e-scooters and e-bikes triggered a public outcry demanding action from officials. Several cities and regions have been dealing with this challenge, and there is much to learn from their experiences – including from cities who decided not to allow these services to operate in their streets.

For more than a year, POLIS conducted an intense dialogue with cities and regions, major players in this industry, and many other relevant stakeholders. This dialogue was enhanced by the active participation of several members of POLIS’ working groups on Road Safety & Security, Governance & Integration, and Health & Active Travel. To all, and especially to our members, thank you!

We took stock of the regulatory frameworks that are emerging across the membership, and will soon share several case studies in a Micromobility series, to encourage peer-to-peer exchange, to learn from the trial-and-error and sandboxing phase we are in, and to showcase successful approaches.

All this input was critical for shaping this Discussion Paper, which has a simple goal: to feed an ongoing dialogue on this topic in a way that ensures cities have a leading role, and to support our member cities and regions in their efforts.

These “micro” devices can become a big opportunity to encourage the modal shift we need. But shared micromobility will produce real and sustainable benefits for cities only if it becomes a safe, viable and attractive business – and this, in turn, will happen only if these services become a source of solutions for cities, and not a source of problems.

In a year from now, we’ll probably be shown wrong on some issues. But we had to bring them to the table now. We’ve put forward a “living document”, that is meant to evolve in time, as we learn from our continuous exchange of views and experiences. So we strongly encourage your additional feedback and contributions!

For comments or more information, please contact Pedro Homem de Gouveia.