With a population of more than 39 million people and a population growth rate of 6%, California has dealt with a serious congestion problem for decades. According to TRIP, a national transportation research nonprofit, congested roads cost Californians $28 billion per year in fuel waste and time lost to sitting in traffic. To address this expensive and frustrating problem, California passed the Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017 (SB 1) allocating $54 billion over 10 years to decrease congestion and improve California’s transit system. 

Since the passage of SB 1 in 2017, California representatives have debated how best to spend that $54 billion. While some want to add new lanes to freeways and otherwise invest in expanding car capacity on California roads and highways, a growing number of representatives and advocacy groups are pointing toward the flaws in that thinking. Namely, the phenomenon of induced demand means that adding lanes might only worsen congestion, possibly making it an ineffective approach to combating traffic in the state.

Meanwhile, in 2019 alone, 136 million shared micro-mobility trips replaced as much as 45% of car trips. Not to mention, with the growing trend of permit-based programs, cities are able to generate revenue from application fees, permit fees and other charges to the companies that want to add their fleets to the city — making this not only more affordable than highway expansions but also a means of raising money that can be invested into further adapting cities to be more bike, scooter, and pedestrian-friendly.

In Los Angeles, the largest dockless mobility program in the country was launched that same year. About 37,000 ebikes and scooters were released into the city. Because they don’t need to be docked at any particular station, residents can simply pick up an ebike or escooter whenever they need and park it wherever when they’re finished with it. This dockless system makes it more convenient and more flexible as users don’t need to search for a docking station near their destination.

Through the program, 3 major micro-mobility leaders — Lime Technologies AB (STO: LIME), Spin, and Bird Global Inc. (NYSE:BRDS) — received permits to release their ebikes and escooters in the city. Together, those 3 account for 22,500 of the 37,500 light EVs in the program. Wheels, Jump (now owned by Lime), and Lyft Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT) together added another 9,000 bikes and scooters.

One year later, L.A. believes its pilot program has been a resounding success. The 37,500 bikes and scooters logged more than 10 million rides that kept an estimated 1,802 metric tons of CO2 out of the air by reducing motorized traffic. About 44% of L.A. riders reported driving less often thanks to the micro-mobility program. 

• In Santa Monica, 2,500 light EVs logged 2.7 million trips, with 49% of those trips replacing trips that would have otherwise been made by car.
• In San Francisco, 1,250 scooters logged more than 240,000 trips in 5 months, replacing an estimated 40% of car trips. The Bay Area also has plans to expand its ebike fleet to 14,200 over the next few years.
• In Oakland, a successful adaptive bike-share program made the city one of the first to expand access to shared micro-mobility fleets to people with disabilities. 

In 2019, the state senate also passed SB 400, which expanded the state’s existing Clean Cars 4 All program to include ebikes and bike-sharing programs. With the expansion, Californians who meet the income requirements can receive vouchers covering all or part of the cost of buying their own ebikes or subscribing to a bike-share or other micro-mobility program. 

The Split Belt from Veer, for example, is a widely compatible carbon fiber belt drive that offers a smoother, safer, more durable alternative to the metal drive chains that are the current standard. Bike-sharing fleets see a lifetime of usage in 6 months vs the 2 years the average bike would see. This means the need for more durable components, like Veer’s belt drive, will be a necessity with the changing mobility efforts.

According to Veer, not only could it sell its proprietary Split Belt to manufacturers as they accommodate California’s growing market by scaling production and looking for longer lasting alternatives to metal drive chains, the company can also sell directly to consumers. Those consumers, who may now qualify for California’s SB 400 voucher program, can use state grant money to customize their new electric bikes.

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