Future of micro-mobility

    (Image credit: pixabay)

 Micro-mobility a term coined or used by many in these late years. So what is micro-mobility ?

 As per the name suggests micro means small and mobility means transportation or travel. That  mean small transportation system which can be used for traveling or transportation for a distance which is not too long but also not too short for walking. In micro-mobility we use rent system to use vehicles for transportation. Vehicles like bicycle, bike, scooter or an electrical bikes.
Micro-mobility is a new concept and yet to be fully explored and these days because of environmental issues and covid 19 this concept of transportation is highlighted. Today micro-mobility has it's own advantages and disadvantages we are going explore these in this article we are going to explore the possibilities of micro-mobility in upcoming years. We are also going to discuss topics about the type of transportation, the way users will interact with it, how users will access it, what kind of connectivity will it have, how frequently will it be available, etc.
So, let's begin.

1) What do you see as the positives of micro-mobility options?

* Reducing stress on metro cities :

     (Image credit: pixabay)

Micro-mobility can be very useful in big urban areas like metro cities. In micro-mobility we use small vehicle to travel from A to B. Small vehicle take less space and can be stored and accessed easily.

* Helps to maintain environment :
  In big cities where maintaining an environment is big challenge micro-mobility can help us. Big vehicles like car and buses are one of the great  contributer  to the pollution. They release toxic gases such carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide into the air which pollute the environment. But in micro-mobility we use small vehicle which leaves less carbon footprints. Some vehicles in micro-mobility even leaves no carbon footprints. Those vehicles are bicycle, skateboard and electric scooter.

* Helps to reduce traffic on roads :

    (Image credit: pixabay)

Micro-mobility is also helpful to reduce traffic on roads. It uses small vehicles those contribute to less traffic resulting in saving time wasted during traveling because of traffic.

* Faster pace than public transport :
Micro-mobility is also faster way to travel because you don't need to stand in queue. You just book a vehicle prior to traveling and go and grab your vehicle and start your journey.

2) What do you see as the negatives of micro-mobility options:

While having so many positive points just like other concept micro-mobility has some negatives too.
Micro-mobility is fairly a new concept and that is why it has some issues that needed to be solved.

* "vehicle availability" problem :
  That mean not having enough vehicles for travelers. Resulting in delays.

* Less infrastructure dedicated to micro-mobility :
Even though micro-mobility is gaining popularity there is less infrastructure to deal with problems like less numbers of micro-mobility station in the city, less routes covering the city, more delay because of vehicle unavailability.

* Security of assets such as bikes and bicycles owned by micro-mobility services :

    (Image credit: pixabay)       

 Bikes, bicycle and other vehicles used in micro-mobility are rented and used by traveler. Not all travelers or user has good intention. These vehicles can get stolen if they are not secured with geo-location devices such as GPS and even there is GPS installed in vehicle it can be removed by thief if it is not installed correctly.
Users damaging vehicles either intentionally or not intentionally can also pose a problem.

3) What will the future of micro-mobility look like in 5 years?

There is no doubt that future of micro-mobility is bright. There are so many start ups and organizations are considering this concept.
  In following years much more will be done regarding to micro-mobility.
In future micro-mobility will be faster because of research and development in this field. More vehicle will be added such as electric scooter and cars. In these upcoming 5 years electrification in transportation field will start. Which would include more electric vehicles and less convention vehicles like petrol and diesel fuel vehicles.
  In these upcoming 5 years micro-mobility will be more digitized. User can book their vehicles in advance. User and the service provider also get location of the vehicle in real time reducing the possibility of stealing.
User just need to either reach out to the station or ask the vehicle to come at their location. All of it will be monitored by security team of that service provider either private or government funded.
Micro-mobility service provider will be connected to user by mobile app or web application via internet connection. Giving user real time data of his booked vehicle or other services.
  In upcoming 5 years there will be more vehicles dedicated to micro-mobility so user can never face a vehicle unavailability problem. On that user will see additional data related to availability of vehicles on his mobile app.

4) What will the future of micro-mobility look like in 20 years?

  Micro-mobility will develop so much in next 20 year. Almost all of the problem related to it will be solved. Micro-mobility will get more mature in 20 years and then it will no longer a service provided only in metro cities. In 20 years micro-mobility will cover suburbs, small towns and counties. It will be faster, seamless and easy.
   In next 20 years we don't know which technology the world will use but the micro-mobility will integrate that technology to keep up with time.
   There will be wide variety vehicles to choose from. Most of the vehicles will be electrical. These vehicles will be charged fast and run more miles using less power.
   In 20 years micro-mobility experience will be seamless. There will be more data regarding the trip and the vehicle. User will be able to plan his trips in advance and the service provider will help him to plan using his travel history. Service provider will give suggestions to user which can be useful for him saving time. Service provider will handle all problems taking all the work from user's shoulders. In 20 years there will be no delay and user's trip experience will be seamless
   In future mobile or other devices with internet connection will be faster. Internet connection will be faster in itself. This will help user to save time. In future user will be able to see what is happening after he rent his micro-mobility service. There will also be a subscription service which will give customised interface to the user who subscribe it for longer time. User who is subscribed will also get more benefits according to his needs and demands.
   In future there will be no issues regarding availability. In future these micro-mobility services will be well managed and with the help of enough infrastructure there will be no delay and user's experience will be seamless.