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Barcelona gives 19 micro mobility licenses but not e-scooter licences
The City of Barcelona declared the winners, on the basis of a batch of 19:12 for e-moped companies and seven for bicycle and e-bike operators, of micro-mobility licenses. E-scooter sharing services in the city are not especially welcome.
Here is a list of the licensed companies (those that got two licences are italicized): courtesy of the shared micromobility blog:
· The following e-mopeds are available: Acciona, Avant Fullstep, Breath, Cooltra (eCooltra, "Eco-Logia), Futurus Mobilidad (Movo), Oiz Ridesharing, Scotlandot Networks.
Bicycles: Bolt, Cooltra, eCooltra, Idri BK, Movi, Leap, Scoot and Smart Cycles (Republics of Donkey), and Yego. Electric bikes.
Also noteworthy is the lack of a License in Barcelona between two main European micro-mobility operators – Tier and Wind.
The motives are not very obvious, but at the very last moment Tier has purchased the COUP e-moped fleet it seems like it would have been a good place to do business for him at least.
Wars of Attrition
Unlike many other major European cities who have granted or are only about to license a few worthy businesses,Barcelona decided to do the opposite and to take a whole host of operators o the city at once.
At least some players may be facing problems of profits, as only up to 580 mopeds and/or 630 (e-)bikes can be used by each licensee.
Seeing operators to deploy their fleets 30 days and another 30 days to show vehicles in service, it has not yet ended. In a couple of months the situation may be different again, explains Shared Micromobility Alexandre Gauquelin.
“Companies may opt to operate for 2 months in the hope of securing enough permits from competitors not starting to run a large sufficient fleet ..."
