I was discussing the idea of fleet safety within micro mobility with a friend who has no skin in the game. His viewpoint was that fleet maintenance is not sexy, but might be the difference between “dinner out” and a trip to the ER. The crux is this busines model hinges on fast scaling.
Initial VC funding drives a massive splurge of bikes or scooters onto the pavement. Charging, repair and maintenance is outsourced to gig workers, while the circus moves on. You see the disconnect? There is no fiscal responsibility on the fleet vendor to make bikes road worthy once they’ve been released into the wild, other than the obvious (that it doesn’t run at all, or is so badly damaged it cannot function commercially).
The risk areas are known and understood Brake cable wear → loss of stopping power Loose steering columns → instability at speed Worn tires → reduced grip in wet weather Dead lights → increased risk in low-visibility conditions Unnoticed frame stress fractures → sudden structural failure Faulty batteries → mid-ride cutouts.
We’re not going to spin this post into an IoT infomercial. Even though IoT has benefits, it is not the core. The point of the article is to zone in on solutions to fix a death ride philosophy. The Vendor outsources charging and light maintenance to gig workers. The chargers/mechanics are paid per unit, not per quality, so the incentive is: “Charge more, fix less, move fast.” The city sees the bikes as semi-public infrastructure, but has zero control over how they’re maintained or deployed. The rider assumes the bikes are safe—why would they doubt it?
Potential Solutions: Responsibility
Vehicle service record: Tracks every touch: Who charged it, who fixed it, when it was last checked. If it ends up in a canal? You trace it. If it fails? You audit who last worked on it. You know where it is now and how it is.
Move from “anyone with a van and a charger” to local certified maintenance crews: Paid on quality-based KPIs, not just quantity. Trained and vetted. Assigned a specific fleet zone (territorial accountability).
City-Level audits + Maintenance quotas: Cities should license vendors conditionally, based on: Proof of proactive maintenance Minimum % of fleet checked monthly Reporting of safety incidents The public infrastructure model needs public accountability hooks.
Rider Trust Model (Scored Devices) Let riders score the condition of the bike after the ride.
You crowdsource your data. If multiple riders rate a unit poorly, it’s auto-flagged and pulled. This builds: A community safety net A feedback loop the vendor can’t ignore And a slow shift toward fleet-wide transparency
Insurance incentives: Vendors should get better insurance premiums if they: Maintain better incident reporting Have stronger service logs. Show fewer mechanical failure claims. Let underwriters reward safe fleet architecture, not just size.
We would argue that the wild wild west model of e-scooter deployment (specifically) has created a postion where municipalities have to step in eventually. After all, they own the town. One day they will take it back. But, by that point the original “run and gun” cowboys will have scooted off into the sunset (on their last working ride).
