One of my last posts here are dedicated to the new issues raised by the growing popularity of micro-mobility shared schemes. Besides the reflections of the critical problems, I’m also pointing out what should be the essential solution to most of them: the cooperation between the private and public sectors.

Currently, a new body called Micro-mobility For Europe (MMfE) has just formed. As stated in the first and only post published so far, the coalition aims to “create one voice for providers of shared micro-mobility solutions to transform urban mobility in Europe.”

Micro-mobility for Europe currently represents: Bird, Bolt, Dott, Free Now, Lime, Tier, Voi., Wind

The press release is also not forgetting to mention the role of the shared micro-mobility solutions in the current shift into a more sustainable urban and transport system. As said by Catriona Meehan, Co-Chair of the coalition and representative of Wind: “the micro-mobility has revolutionised urban mobility and established itself as an essential alternative to personal car ownership and use.”

All of this is obviously true. Sadly, the glimpse of the current problems making some cities abolish the shared-micro-mobility services is present only between the lines. Especially realising that without effectively addressing the operational issues of shared micro-mobility solutions firstly, we could hardly talk about supporting sustainable mobility.

What connects the founding member of the coalition is the need to make the micro-mobility solutions genuinely sustainable. This should be done by providing the needed data for the public authorities to understand how effectively integrate the micro-mobility solutions into the current urban eco-system. Besides that, the coalition already defined the top priorities like urban mobility, data governance and circular economy to ensure that shared micro-mobility is an integral part of EU policy developments in the coming years.

The aim of the coalition thus does not differ from the purpose presented by various shared micro-mobility providers. The smart and green discourse seems to be the ongoing mantra that might be easy to sell but hard to sustain or even reach.

I’m glad there is a unifying body trying to represent the whole shared micro-mobility segment. However, more important, it is to finally take a break from copywriting and marketing strategies and zoom into single municipalities and neighbourhoods, open dialogue between various stakeholders, start bringing up solutions, and share the good examples of shared micro-mobility managerial practises.

Let’s wait for the new development of the micro-mobility segment once the snow will melt and the e-scooters will pop-up in the public space. Indeed I’m not the only one ready to observe how the story of MMfE and the shared micro-mobility segment will develop.

ph by unsplash.com/@alschim
ph by unsplash.com/@alschim