March 9, 2019 at 12:00Sharing transport news: electric scooters do not last long; Lyft and Uber are going to go public
- Transfer
I looked at scooter rides in Louisville, Kentucky, which are available online as part of a city data transparency program. The latest data can be downloaded from the link . I used an older set, and also included monthly travel data from August to December. I also included unique identifiers for each scooter in the set, since this detail was key for my analysis, and it was deleted from subsequent data sets published by Louisville. The data do not distinguish between Bird and Lime sharing companies, but since Bird started operating in August 2018 and Lime in November, the bias towards Bird is understandable.
Given all this, here is what I found:
Scooter lifespan is a key factor in the rental economy. The more trips and kilometers an average scooter can run into, the better for sharing companies that need to recapture the cost of each scooter before they start earning. In October, The Information wrote that Bird spends $ 551 on a scooter, and intends to lower their cost to $ 360. At that time, I said that this means that Bird needs each scooter to make five trips a day for 5.25 months, only to recapture the costs of it.
The Louisville picture is even darker. Enthusiast transport Nathan Stevens also analyzed data on Louisville from 9 August to 30 November, and I will give some of his figures regarding Samokatnaya economy:
Use
Income
General expenses based on information from The Information
Spending in Louisville related to Schering policy without the docking station.
Louisville Daily Scooter Economy
Are you following? Good. So, our company ultimately earns $ 2.32 in profit per day from an average scooter in Louisville. As we mentioned, city data say that the average scooter runs for 28-32 days. This means that an ordinary scooter makes a profit of $ 65 to $ 75 during its lifetime.
Catch it? We make a generous assumption, saying that the company paid $ 360 for each scooter, as Bird wants. According to the calculations above, it turns out that the company returns only $ 65- $ 75 from the cost of each scooter - that is, it loses $ 295- $ 285 per scooter. And this does not even include the annual fee of $ 50 for a device without a docking station, $ 3000 for a license and $ 100 for each group parking. If you take the price tag of $ 551, then the losses grow even stronger.
The numbers are not encouraging, but this should not surprise you. Electric scooters taken by Bird for commercial sharing are originally Xiaomi devices designed for use by one person with a weight limit of 91 kg. The average American weighs 89.7 kg and the American weighs 77.4 kg. These scooters have also been designed for use in fine weather on flat surfaces. They were not intended at all to travel several times a day in any weather and on any road, and for American riders who, on average, almost reach the maximum weight limit, even without considering the clothes and all kinds of things that they can carry with myself. No doubt faced with such an uncomfortable situation, Bird in October revealed the details of the new electric scooter,developed jointly with Okai specifically for sharing. In order for the scooters to pay off, they will have to make a giant leap in reliability and become much cheaper.
Bird spokesman contested the conclusion from Louisville data that the scooter’s average lifespan is 28 days. “Our park is dynamic, devices are moving here and there. Just from the fact that it looks like he worked in Louisville for 28 days, it does not at all follow that he was there all his life. ” The representative did not answer the question of where scooters withdrawn from circulation in Louisville — or in what other cities nearby Bird — were moving to. It remains to be assumed that they are simply flying away.
More scooters!
And how do you like this statement:
Details on electric scooter rentals in Moscow
While Lyft and Uber are going to go public, with Lyft going to publish their S-1 form this week, discounts have become popular again. Both carrier companies click on ads, fighting for market share at the finish line before the IPO. According to The Information, Lyft took the first step, and increased its market share in the United States by 4%.
It's funny to watch the story repeat. Big discounts were observed when Uber and Lyft first competed for control of the US market, as the increase in passenger numbers resulted in a more beautiful growth story and greater investment. And it doesn’t matter that they practically burned money, but their growth chart looked like a club! Investors promised them money!
At the moment, the IPO is a little complicated. As soon as Lyft issues shares, she will not be able to control outgoing information, and she will have to publish detailed quarterly and annual reports.
By the way, Lyft seems to benefit from a “spoiled phone” when an ambiguous fact, voiced by Reuters a few weeks ago - that “Lyft plans to inform investors about approaching its US market share to 40%” - repeated, supplemented and repeated again as a result of which it became an unconditional truth, and today PitchBook writes in an analytical note that Lyft's growth is “stable” and that the company “has recently achieved a market share of 40% in the United States.”
Feeding to passengers in the process of discussing market share may look attractive, but a freebie is not cheap for the company, and all these expenses will certainly affect the final Lyft figures. The company, apparently, will try to get ahead of this moment by launching on the Nasdaq in late March, as the Wall Street Journal reported, long before the publication of the results of the first quarter.
At the same time, in January, Second Measure analysts studying anonymous acquisitions more conservatively approached Lyft's share of the demand transport market and considered it equal to 29% in sales, compared with 69% from Uber. Over the past few years, the trend has developed in favor of Lyft, whose market share is growing and Uber's share is falling.
If my incoming letters can be considered an indicator, then Uber is not sitting idly by, watching Lyft scatter handouts. Over the past week, Uber sent me two letters, with a 50% discount on the next 10 trips, and from 30% on 10 trips on UberX. Lyft was offering me a 10% discount on 10 weekday trips this month; It seemed to my editor living in San Francisco that the company was "overly aggressive" and offered a 25% discount on 10 trips on a weekday.
Do not switch, and wait for Lyft to publish S-1 form, which will begin the stocking party in 2019, where quite a few participants have already gathered.
Given all this, here is what I found:
- The average life of a scooter in Louisville from August to December was 28 days.
- Median - 23 days.
- If you remove the scooter IDs, which first appeared in December, so that statistics are concentrated on older scooters, then the average life time increases to 32 days, and the median to 28.
- Also in this case, the median scooter made 70 trips with a total length of more than 136 km.
Scooter lifespan is a key factor in the rental economy. The more trips and kilometers an average scooter can run into, the better for sharing companies that need to recapture the cost of each scooter before they start earning. In October, The Information wrote that Bird spends $ 551 on a scooter, and intends to lower their cost to $ 360. At that time, I said that this means that Bird needs each scooter to make five trips a day for 5.25 months, only to recapture the costs of it.
The Louisville picture is even darker. Enthusiast transport Nathan Stevens also analyzed data on Louisville from 9 August to 30 November, and I will give some of his figures regarding Samokatnaya economy:
Use
- 663 scooters in the city.
- The average trip length is 2.6 km.
- The average duration is 18 minutes.
- The average scooter makes 3.49 rides per day.
Income
- Bird and Lime charge $ 1 for opening the castle and $ 0.15 per minute.
- In 18 minutes, the average trip makes a profit of $ 3.7 (it is interesting that this figure, taken from three months of work in Louisville, almost coincides with the average for June of $ 3.65, which Bird told investors about ).
- For 3.49 rides per day, the average scooter will give $ 12.91 profit per day.
General expenses based on information from The Information
- Bird spends $ 1.72 on every trip.
- $ 0.51 for each trip is spent on repairs.
- Fee for payment by credit card - $ 0.41 per trip.
- User support - $ 0.06 per trip.
- Insurance - $ 0.05 per trip.
Spending in Louisville related to Schering policy without the docking station.
- $ 2,000 for a trial license (in the first six months of operation).
- $ 1000 for a full license.
- $ 50 annually for every scooter.
- $ 1 daily for every scooter.
- $ 100 for each group parking.
Louisville Daily Scooter Economy
- Scooter brings $ 3.7 per ride.
- We deduct the cost of payment, repair, credit cards, support and insurance, we get $ 0.95 per trip.
- Multiplying by 3.49 trips per day, we get $ 3.32 of net profit per scooter per day.
- We take away the daily contribution of $ 1, we get $ 2.32.
Are you following? Good. So, our company ultimately earns $ 2.32 in profit per day from an average scooter in Louisville. As we mentioned, city data say that the average scooter runs for 28-32 days. This means that an ordinary scooter makes a profit of $ 65 to $ 75 during its lifetime.
Catch it? We make a generous assumption, saying that the company paid $ 360 for each scooter, as Bird wants. According to the calculations above, it turns out that the company returns only $ 65- $ 75 from the cost of each scooter - that is, it loses $ 295- $ 285 per scooter. And this does not even include the annual fee of $ 50 for a device without a docking station, $ 3000 for a license and $ 100 for each group parking. If you take the price tag of $ 551, then the losses grow even stronger.
The numbers are not encouraging, but this should not surprise you. Electric scooters taken by Bird for commercial sharing are originally Xiaomi devices designed for use by one person with a weight limit of 91 kg. The average American weighs 89.7 kg and the American weighs 77.4 kg. These scooters have also been designed for use in fine weather on flat surfaces. They were not intended at all to travel several times a day in any weather and on any road, and for American riders who, on average, almost reach the maximum weight limit, even without considering the clothes and all kinds of things that they can carry with myself. No doubt faced with such an uncomfortable situation, Bird in October revealed the details of the new electric scooter,developed jointly with Okai specifically for sharing. In order for the scooters to pay off, they will have to make a giant leap in reliability and become much cheaper.
Bird spokesman contested the conclusion from Louisville data that the scooter’s average lifespan is 28 days. “Our park is dynamic, devices are moving here and there. Just from the fact that it looks like he worked in Louisville for 28 days, it does not at all follow that he was there all his life. ” The representative did not answer the question of where scooters withdrawn from circulation in Louisville — or in what other cities nearby Bird — were moving to. It remains to be assumed that they are simply flying away.
More scooters!
And how do you like this statement:
Lime, one of the leading electric scooter companies, urges riders to be careful when using their devices, due to a technical “mistake” that could lead to “sudden, excessive sudden braking” during the ride - this announcement was made by the company over the weekend.Such a problem, of course, will never be encountered in a city like San Francisco , which is absolutely, completely and completely flat [ it was sarcasm, yes]. Braking problems also occurred in Switzerland and New Zealand. Lime claims that the problem affected less than 0.0045% of trips, and said that it “can work to reduce, but not completely eliminate,” such risks. Indeed, no risk can be completely eliminated, but imagine what would happen if a similar defect were found in a car. The automaker would recall the cars, encouraging people to bring them in for repairs! In theory, Lime has even more responsibility, since scooters belong to her, and not to users. To find out that there is a 0.0045% chance that your electric scooter can suddenly jam and reset you is the same as finding out that your smartphone has a small chance of self-ignition. The risk is small, but perhaps it will not suit you anyway.
The company said it was discovered in tests that sudden braking usually occurs when the scooter quickly goes downhill. The danger forced Lime to organize a remote firmware update aimed at fixing a glitch, which led to a decrease in the number of cases of sudden braking.
Details on electric scooter rentals in Moscow
Exchange listing
While Lyft and Uber are going to go public, with Lyft going to publish their S-1 form this week, discounts have become popular again. Both carrier companies click on ads, fighting for market share at the finish line before the IPO. According to The Information, Lyft took the first step, and increased its market share in the United States by 4%.
It's funny to watch the story repeat. Big discounts were observed when Uber and Lyft first competed for control of the US market, as the increase in passenger numbers resulted in a more beautiful growth story and greater investment. And it doesn’t matter that they practically burned money, but their growth chart looked like a club! Investors promised them money!
At the moment, the IPO is a little complicated. As soon as Lyft issues shares, she will not be able to control outgoing information, and she will have to publish detailed quarterly and annual reports.
By the way, Lyft seems to benefit from a “spoiled phone” when an ambiguous fact, voiced by Reuters a few weeks ago - that “Lyft plans to inform investors about approaching its US market share to 40%” - repeated, supplemented and repeated again as a result of which it became an unconditional truth, and today PitchBook writes in an analytical note that Lyft's growth is “stable” and that the company “has recently achieved a market share of 40% in the United States.”
Feeding to passengers in the process of discussing market share may look attractive, but a freebie is not cheap for the company, and all these expenses will certainly affect the final Lyft figures. The company, apparently, will try to get ahead of this moment by launching on the Nasdaq in late March, as the Wall Street Journal reported, long before the publication of the results of the first quarter.
At the same time, in January, Second Measure analysts studying anonymous acquisitions more conservatively approached Lyft's share of the demand transport market and considered it equal to 29% in sales, compared with 69% from Uber. Over the past few years, the trend has developed in favor of Lyft, whose market share is growing and Uber's share is falling.
If my incoming letters can be considered an indicator, then Uber is not sitting idly by, watching Lyft scatter handouts. Over the past week, Uber sent me two letters, with a 50% discount on the next 10 trips, and from 30% on 10 trips on UberX. Lyft was offering me a 10% discount on 10 weekday trips this month; It seemed to my editor living in San Francisco that the company was "overly aggressive" and offered a 25% discount on 10 trips on a weekday.
Do not switch, and wait for Lyft to publish S-1 form, which will begin the stocking party in 2019, where quite a few participants have already gathered.