Is one solution for urban transport of the future a shared scooter? It could work in some UK cities, especially London where something close to total gridlock has been achieved by Mayor Khan.
Thing is, a conventional scooter in the 50cc-125cc range offers better handling, braking and comfort than the e-scooters being trialled right now. Some users will also need to carry laptops, coats and other belongings, so a conventional scooter with an underseat storage area ticks that box. How about on-demand, PAYG rides because the hybrid WFH/commuter model is probably going to be the default setting for office workers in the future? Yes, one novel twist to the Lockists idea is that existing scooter owners could hire out their scooters while they are at work, or working from home. There are obvious insurance considerations to thnk about but app-based by-miles, or by-the-hour could be the solution. Here’s some news from Lockists in Taiwan;
Lockists Co., Ltd. is a ride-sharing platform for anyone with a scooter. Its product, a smart scooter lock, is an IoT device that keeps and provides the right scooter key for use any time of the day.
“Lockists allows every registered scooter to be shared automatically,” said Charlie Lin, Founder of Lockists. Lin predicts that recent EV scooter sharing trends in Taiwan will benefit Lockists Co., Ltd., as more and more people accept the idea of riding a scooter without buying one.
Making idle scooters earn money
The Lockist scooter sharing platform is the company’s first-star service. Lockists smart lock is controlled by the Lockists app, allowing members to share idle time information with others when their scooters are not in use. Customized scooter keys can be “kept”, “identified”, and “stored” in the smart lock. Keys may be “Passed” without invasive modification 24/7.
See the Lockists video
Scooter owners put the customized scooter key in the smart lock to lock on the back wheel, and can flexibly set both the “sharing price” and “retrieving time” for their scooter, thereby greatly activating the huge idle resources of scooters worldwide. Before the designated retrieving time, scooters are guided by the system’s “dynamic return range”, and a professional logistics team is dispatched to return the scooter to its original uploaded location.
Lin said they are recruiting 1,400 scooters for sharing in Taiwan for the pilot round to allow members to become familiar with the service. Locklist said that each member will be allowed to book up to 100 units during the initial pilot run.
Lockists has already enlisted partners in strategic locations on Zhongshan Road in New Taipei City’s Yonghe District, on Yanwan Road in Taitung City, on Zhongshan Road in Pingtung County’s Chaozhou Township, in Kaohsiung City, and on Xinzhan Road in Taitung City. Lin said their smart lock was designed by an experienced lecturer at Tainan University of the Arts and that the core technology NB-IOT SIM card is being provided by FarEast Telecom. In terms of service software, Lin noted that his company’s team has consulted with a number of software engineers from National Tsing Hua University, the Information Technology Council, and Tamkang University.
They have also consulted with CPAs and legal advisers for accounting and taxation, membership terms, privacy regulations, and other financial and legal aspects of the business.
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