Part 4: Build a relationship with the city and understand its legal requirements

Building a strong relationship with the city is a key pillar for success.

While it’s vital to understand the requirements that your city already has in place, you may also want to think about data-sharing, the transparency around space usage, and how to enforce safety measures. Here are the main considerations:

How do you obtain a license to operate?

With the rise of shared mobility systems, typically high-density cities confronted with a large number of operators are introducing license schemes for operating fleets, for example quotas on the number of allowed vehicles. The usage of public space to park vehicles is also often regulated and mobility system operators need to comply with the rules.

During the planning phase, it is important to get informed about the regulations that are in place and what impact it will have on your business strategy and operations.

What are your city’s parking requirements?

One of the biggest challenges facing cities is where shared mobility fleets should be parked and stored when they’re not in use. While the usual setup in a city allows e-mopeds to be parked only in designated parking areas, e-bikes tend to have higher flexibility and are allowed to be parked in unrestricted parking areas. In this case, users can park vehicles anywhere as long as they don't restrict the movement of sidewalks or right-of-ways.

It is important to pay close attention to the regulations of the city in which you are planning to launch. For example, in denser areas, cities may impose stricter parking policies, but then choose to have more flexible parking in the rest of the metropolitan zones.

When there is collaboration between operators and their home city, parking requirements tend to be better communicated and more transparent to riders too.