The pandemic has profoundly changed every aspect of daily life, but it has also questioned e speeded up many processes that were already in place, among all that of urban mobility. Although it did not start due to the pandemic, the market for startups offering shared mobility solutions has grown throughout Italy over the past two years: in Rome alone there are 7 platforms offering services of this type.
This market condition, present all over the world, facilitates competition and progress in favor of consumers: lower costs and better and better services. An important step in this change can be seen in the new blue ebikes parked on the sidewalks and squares of the main Italian cities. They are those of Dott, Dutch startup born in 2018which has partnered with Segway to offer the public a new generation of electric vehicles, which gives much thought to the future of urban mobility.
“We started developing bikes from the very beginning: the founders have always intended to focus on various modes of travel in a multimodal context, all sharing the concept of micromobility”, he reminded us. Andrea Giaretta, regional general manager of Dr.retracing the steps that led to the debut of the new ebikes, adding that there are also other options being studied.
For ebikes, Dott ha partnered with Segway, popular manufacturer of electric vehicles: “We have an engineering department with over 30 people who have collaborated with Segway to develop a customized product, equipped with various features that make life easier for the customer.” The features that stand out the most are the wireless charger for the smartphone and the multi-speed gearbox: the introduction of the charger “goes hand in hand with the developments we are anticipating in the app – added Giaretta – We will also shortly introduce a system navigation, and the wireless charger it is essential to ensure that the phone does not drain ”.
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Using a Dott bike on the streets of Rome
It seems trivial, but giving the first pedal to an electric bike is not so simple, especially if you have to leave again at a traffic light with cars and scooters that play, without the possibility of entering a cycle path. And Rome, like many other Italian cities, is unfortunately an example of this, with kilometers of roads in the center still without routes dedicated to ecological mobility. The multi-speed gearbox of Dott’s ebikes meets this need, facilitating the first pedaling with a very light gear and automatically moving up two gears according to the speed reached.
These ebikes are limited to 25 km / h (although in a long descent they can even reach 27-28) to eliminate the obligation to use a helmet. Everyone could have their own, but it’s bulky, and there’s still no security of finding bikes or scooters anywhere in the city. One solution would be the helmet included in a compartment attached to the vehicle, but according to Giaretta “it is a bit problematic in terms of hygiene and cleanliness, also because it is not a helmet like those of motorcycles (which would find no place on the vehicle, ed), but a foldable and light helmet “. You cannot rely on the good will of the people who disinfect it every time you use it, “not to mention that the top case raises the center of gravity and unbalances the driver”.
Instead the management of a reduced speed to 20 km / h for the monopattini o 25 for bikes, as required by law, reduces risks and dangers, since at low speeds there is no need for additional protection.
The danger on the street is perhaps the main theme and obstacle to the use of solutions such as Dott’s e-bikes on a large scale in the urban area. There is still a great shortage of cycle paths, but there is also the problem of costs for the user: they are only acceptable for specific and non-recurring situations. In a nutshell, the cost is acceptable to take a walk in a few minutes between the Imperial Forums, but it is still too much for those who go to work every day from the other side of the city, and have to travel 10-15 kilometers in any weather condition. any time of day.
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The cost and other obstacles to bike sharing
In Rome, a subscription to the blue stripes costs 70 euros per month, with which you can park anywhere within the ring of the Grande Raccordo Anulare. Switching to the ecological alternative costs at least 35 euros for a subscription to public transport, plus others 35 or 40 euros for an electric mobility app like Dr. It is true that on the one hand, the cost of petrol must be added to the blue stripes, but in the post-pandemic period everyone will always choose, if they can, a solution in which they do not have to be in contact with other people, and many jobs have a parking area dedicated. The cost of ecological and integrated mobility is still too high to convince everyone to make the definitive move.
Large-scale adoption passes by 3 steps:
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the cost reduction for the end user;
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the total availability of vehicles throughout the urban area without exception of zones;
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efficient integration with i mobility services light on rail and rubber.
The first and second point can be resolved with a single action: the competent authorities in the area can incentivize electric mobility initiatives by reducing taxes and aligning the percentages with those of local public transport. Some numbers: VAT on public transport is fixed at 10%, while on sharing services is 22%, as on all consumer goods; two thirds of the cost of local public transport is financed by the state, while there is no type of financing for sharing services. “We do not need money, but we need to reduce costs for the end user, and with these incentives we will be able to increase coverage on the territory and automatically lower prices”, Giaretta explained to us.
The third point instead is a long process of modernization of the streets: “We are moving towards the so-called Paris model”, which consists of a series of efforts by local authorities to remove sections of road reserved for cars and instead add cycle lanes to encourage use. One of these efforts is also carried out by the local administration of the Municipality of Rome, whose Councilor for Transport, Eugenio Pataneconvened the main players in sharing services to announce the plan for the construction of the Curva del Ferro around the capital by 2024.
Dott’s ebikes have been available in Italy since last November 2nd, and the effects of the change made can already be seen: other sharing services have also made their debut similar ebike models. Today Dott owns around 40,000 e-bikes and scooters throughout Europe. The future of urban mobility, perhaps, lies in seeing those same 40,000 vehicles in a single metropolis, with no roads for cars in the city center and with less pollution that goes with it. In short, a future to breathe deeply.