Micromobility in Focus
A First-Timer's Take on TIER Mobility
Whilst visiting here in York, England, I have been seeing scooter and bicycle sharing all over the city as I’ve walked around. I hadn’t tried any of these types of micromobility services before, so I decided it was time to learn more about how services such as this work.
For those less familiar, micromobility refers to a mode of transportation that involves small, lightweight vehicles designed for short-distance travel. These vehicles are typically used for trips covering short distances, such as the last mile of a journey or within a local neighbourhood. Micromobility options may include electric scooters, electric bicycles, skateboards, and other small, motorized, or non-motorized devices.
Micromobility modes of transportation are often seen as a sustainable and efficient solution to address the challenges of urban congestion and provide an alternative to traditional, larger forms of transportation. Micromobility services are commonly accessed through smartphone apps, allowing users to locate, unlock, and pay for these vehicles on a short-term basis.
TIER Mobility App Experience
The micromobility service used here in York is called TIER Mobility. I downloaded the TIER Mobility app on my smartphone and set up an account. This included verifying that I had a valid driver’s license by scanning my license with the phone camera as well as taking a selfie of my face so that my identity could be verified, which it did. I performed these processes while at home, expecting a quick start when I hired my vehicle.
Before leaving home, I purchased TIER Mobility’s “Go Explore” pass for £9.99 GBP (~$17.25 CAD) for 24 hours including unlimited vehicle unlocks as well as 50 minutes of usage time. They have other pass options available or pay-per-use for £2.00 GBP (~$3.50 CAD) for unlock and £0.22 GBP (~$0.40 CAD) per minute of usage time.
When I went to unlock the vehicle, however, the app kept asking me to verify my identity again, which I attempted but failed twice. I contacted TIER Mobility’s customer support via text message in the app and while they quickly responded, they simply asked me to provide screenshots of the error (unsure why as no error code was shown).
When asked how long this would take to resolve, they told me that their queuing time was quite long at the moment and they could not provide an estimate but that I could continue attempting the license verification process (I was debating asking for a refund at this stage). While I waited, I tried the verification process two more times and finally had it approved on the fourth try. Unfortunately, this wasted over 30 minutes to achieve, cutting into my ride time. This gave me a bit of a bad experience at the onset given that I had prepared the app, validated my license, and bought my ride package before leaving home. Good thing I didn’t have somewhere critical to get to! (I was travelling around mid-morning after the weekday peak hour.)
The process was easy to use once I finally had my account sorted. I scanned the QR code of the scooter unit I wanted to use and then it would energize. My app screen then changed to a time tracking view showing the GPS information of my vehicle hire including areas where I was expected to go slow and areas where the vehicle was prohibited. The scooter also had a handy induction charger that you could use to clip-in the phone for your journey.
The scooter required you to push start before the accelerator would allow the electronic motor to take over. The vehicle itself felt heavy (compared to their bicycles) likely due to the requirement of the large battery pack. It was a bit clumsy to disengage and engage the kickstand given this weight, which made me question how someone with less strength than me could achieve the process easily.
When I started riding, it was a quick learning curve to overcome between the acceleration, brakes, and balance. Given the higher weight of the vehicle and the lower centre of gravity, it was a very stable ride once achieved. However, compared to a bicycle, it was a very bumpy ride! The smaller wheels and higher weight played a factor when traversing rough asphalt or cobblestone streets, and on one occasion, I needed to manually push through an area because the ride was so poor. However, on smooth pavement, it was very easy to come to speed (maximum 25 km/h) and interact with vehicles without any challenge.
During my travels around York, I was able to use the bicycle infrastructure to make my journeys as well. This mainly consisted of painted, side-running bicycle lanes on the main roads. I have a higher level of confidence in riding, so I did not find this an issue but the narrow bicycle lanes (likely 1 metre in most cases) did push me into close proximity with motor vehicles at times but not to the point where I felt uncomfortable (but I was vulnerable).
When it was time to return the vehicle, I made my way to a designated parking area, which is conveniently located in many areas around the city. Once the kickstand was engaged, I ended my ride in the app and the app required me to take a photo of the scooter where I left it. While they did not have specific docking stations, the app warns you that if you do not leave the scooter in a designed parking area, you will receive a £5.00 GBP (~$8.75 CAD) fine.
Further, the app gives you some statistics to better understand your usage. Mine were as follows:
46 minutes ridden over 3 rides;
3 km distance covered;
17 minutes of walking saved;
25 minutes saved vs. a car (assuming traffic delays, parking hunts, etc.);
238 grams of CO2 avoided; and
5 milligrams of fine particulates (PM2.5) avoided.
Debrief and Impressions
Having spent over two months walking around York regularly, it was interesting to experience the travel journey from a motorized vehicle perspective vs. walking. It does feel like you are more vulnerable while riding a vehicle such as this - both in interacting with vehicles and with pedestrians.
Further, walking allows you more mobility through lesser-travelled pathways and alleyways. I have to question TIER Mobility’s statistics given that if I was walking between the destinations on my journey, I would have chosen different routes, more efficient for the walking activity. Therefore, I have to wonder how honest the methodology is behind the feel-good statistics I was provided with.
For example, in contrast to TIER Mobility’s statistics, my route choices were consistent with legal travel route options I would have had with a bicycle or with a motor vehicle. Compared to my typical walking route choices between these destinations, I would have had to walk for 43 minutes covering 3 km. Therefore, when you factor in this difference in route choice I actually would have saved three minutes by simply walking, if not more, given that this was pure vehicle travel time and did not take into consideration other non-billable time I took to walk to a rideshare station and fuss around hiring and returning the scooter! My clear time preference would have been to simply walk.
Similar to driving a motor vehicle, you need to always be alert and pay attention when driving a scooter. This makes it less than ideal for sightseeing in a tourist destination such as York. Further, you cannot use the scooter within the core tourist areas, so you must circumnavigate these areas to reach your destination. And, similar to a motor vehicle, you need to park the scooter somewhere (similar to a car park) and cannot just leave it temporarily in front of a store unless you wish to incur a per-minute waiting fee
For everyday use, the TIER Mobility service could come in handy depending on your needs. TIER Mobility has a monthly “Go Student” pass (but appears to be open to anyone) for £15.99 GBP (~$27.50 CAD) with unlimited unlocks and 100 riding minutes. I can see this being a quick, useful one-way travel option if you are travelling directly from A-to-B when it is not desirable or convenient to use transit or hire an Uber. However, it is strongly forbidden to use these scooters while intoxicated, so users should plan a safe ride home when consuming alcohol!
I don’t have enough information to know or understand the background of the TIER Mobility service here in York to provide any assessment of its overall value. For example, is it subsidized by the local City Council and by how much? What are the operational costs of this service? How is charging of these vehicles undertaken? I have seen TIER Mobility service vehicles around before but unsure if they perform on-site mobile charging or swap out battery packs to charge remotely.
I think that if your municipality is considering the implementation of micromobility options, due diligence and a full business case will need to be developed to support such an endeavour. This would especially need to be justified if public subsidies are required through residential taxes to ensure good value for such a program. Further, while micromobility may be a trendy “feel good” topic in the world of transportation at the moment, it also needs to be scrutinized for its value and ACTUAL benefit (see my criticisms above of the TIER Mobility-provided metrics) vs. other more basic mode choices such as simply walking.
In contrast to Canada, England doesn’t have harsh winters. However, we do need to consider the other unknowns in the Canadian context. For example, cold weather is known to limit battery charge. And, uncleared snow on pathways will make scooters impossible to use for a significant portion of the year, not to mention safety risks.
While a fun experience I’m happy to have undertaken, the scooter sharing through TIER Mobility is not something I’m urgently looking to do again unless for a specific purpose. Considering my micromobility options, I think I’ll generally just stick to walking for the exercise and the better value!
Have you experienced using micromobility services before? If so, which modes of travel have you tried? What were your impressions?
UPDATE June 1, 2024: TIER has opted to remove the e-scooters from York as of May 31, 2024 due to the fact it is not profitable enough to sustain. In the approximately 3.5 years of operation, 60,000 riders made 600,000 rides.