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Global Market Insights outlines how the bike-sharing sector will witness significant developments over the next few years…
Over the years, the bike-sharing market has gained remarkable momentum due to the initiatives undertaken by Governments to reduce the levels of carbon emission. According to 2018 data, emissions from the transport sector accounted for 27% of the total carbon dioxide emissions in the EU. There is an evident need to control environmental degradation and the Governments are levying stringent regulations to ensure the same.
In a bid to control GHG from the transportation sector, the United States Environmental Protection Agency has set emission standards for passenger vehicles and trucks, while setting ambitious reduction targets. For example, it estimates eliminating around six billion metric tons of greenhouse-gas emissions from light-duty vehicle models sold up to 2025.
Lately, there have been advancements in the bike-sharing industry owing to widespread application scope in urban mobility. Transportation flexibility, reduced congestion, lowered vehicle emissions, cost savings, health benefits and reduction in fuel consumption are some of the vital advantages associated with the use of bike-sharing services. It has been estimated that the global bike-sharing market will surpass $10 billion by 2025.
Favourable Government initiatives to fuel bike-sharing trends
With the urgent need to reduce carbon emissions, Governments and other regulatory authorities are emphasizing the use of electric vehicles across the globe. The manufacturers are being provided with necessary subsidies and tax redemptions to encourage the production of electric bikes.
Considerable growth of companies providing shared bikes has been observed in Asia countries over the years. China and Singapore have even released guidelines for dockless or free-floating bike-sharing services in their respective countries. These included the necessity of imposing traffic standards and punishments for improper parking of the bikes.
Initiatives like these will encourage businesses to establish their services in more cities, spending capital on geographical expansion. Rules and regulations for ensuring the quality and longevity of bikes will benefit users and stimulate the acceptance of bike-sharing schemes.
Intelligent transportation to pave the way smart bike-sharing
Technological developments along with the introduction of artificial intelligence in the transportation sector will positively influence bike-sharing industry outlook. The introduction of Intelligent Transportation System (ITS), which is the application of sensors, data analysis, control and communication technologies to ground transportation systems, will help in ensuring mobility, safety, and efficiency of conventional as well as e-bikes.
ITS offers numerous advantages such as incident management, travel time improvement, capacity management, reduction in stops and delays at intersections, speed control and improvement.
The European Commission’s Interreg Vb North Sea Region program is partly funding the Bicycles and ITS (BITS) project to help improve bike rides, collect and manage cycling data and to reach as many cities as possible. The move is aimed at boosting the alternate transportation adoption in Europe. (Source: BITS)
Global expansion to drive mobility-on-demand industry
Adequate awareness among the people in the US. is supporting the expansion of bike-sharing companies across the region. As per statistics, the US bike-sharing industry is witnessing a robust growth with over 35 million trips taken in the year 2017. With the changing trends towards the use of sustainable modes of transportation, many leading companies are shifting focus towards e-bikes as well.
Leading mobility firms have intensified efforts to try and penetrate previously hostile markets. For instance, Uber had launched Uber Jump bike-sharing platform in Rome in October 2019. Reportedly, the company has initially deployed 700 bicycles across the city and could the number to 2,800 over the next few weeks.
