When a video showing a driverless, solar-powered e-bus roaming the streets of NEOM, a USD 500 billion cognitive city-state being developed northwest of Saudi Arabia, was posted on social media a few weeks ago, some people in Saudi started to ask if the Kingdom is paving the way for more sustainable urban transportation systems.
Saudi entrepreneurs with interest in micro-mobility have launched many micro-mobility startups over the past three years. Those companies include Gazal, Hop On, Dabeeb, and many more. They aim to transform the way people move from one place to another. We will discuss the challenges, possibilities and future of micro-mobility in the Kingdom.
INFRASTRUCTURE CHALLENGES
“Our streets are designed for the easy movement of cars. Modern Saudi cities were designed post the first Oil Boom in the 1970’s with big streets and no bike lanes. The urban designs were not dedicated to accommodate pedestrians or bikers”, said Abduljabbar Mohammed, a retired Arab municipality assistant engineer when asked by Majalla on the difficulties of micro-mobility in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states.
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Micro-mobility is defined as transportation over short distances provided by lightweight vehicles that are designed for personal use and to operate under 25 kilometers. The vehicles include dockless bikes, e-scooter, e-buses, e-bikes and other forms of micro-mobility.
“Some streets can be re-imagined and humanized to accommodate micro-mobility devices. However, this needs a national strategy and a lot of money to be invested to create micro-mobility spaces such as bike lanes, parking stations, charging stations and legislations or modifications to the traffic laws”, he added.
The newly founded micro-mobility startups are actively operating in public and amusement parks, corniches and beaches, special residential compounds, NEOM, King Abdulla Economic City, and new entertainment complexes.
"It could fit the lifestyle of a small percentage of the population; however, e-bikes can be used in the existing streets, giving an eco-friendly transport option”, said Abduljabbar Mohammed, who believes micro-mobility will be the only means of transportation in Saudi future cities such as The Line, Red Sea Resorts, King Mohammed bin Salman City, Oxagon, etc.
OPPORTUNITIES AND POSSIBILITIES
Food delivery is one of the growing applications of micro-mobility worldwide. The shared e-scooters and e-bikes industry is booming with more Saudi investors showing interest in creating a new trend for micro-mobility. For example, Gazal, a Saudi-based micro-mobility startup founded in 2020, raised USD 2 million in its first seed funding round by business angels last April. This shows that micro-mobility is an attractive industry taking into consideration that the global micro-mobility market size was estimated at USD 25 billion in 2020 with expectations of a double-digit growth from 2021-2028 according to various reports.
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Solar-powered charging stations are an increasingly important source for powering micro-mobility. It is an opportunity for renewable energy companies to produce solar-powered charging stations for e-scooters, e-buses and e-bikes.
Despite the lockdown and restrictions on public transport, micro-mobility vehicles are the safest because most of them are designed to be used by one person.
WHAT ABOUT THE FUTURE?
Major cities in Saudi Arabia are facing the challenges of traffic congestion with more than 400,000 cars being imported annually. This huge number poses a challenge to the infrastructure that needs to accommodate a growing number of cars every day. Micro-mobility can help in dealing with congestions, knowing that 60% of car trips are less than 8 kilometers in major cities according to a study by McKinsey, which applies to a great extent to Saudi Arabia’s major cities that are home to millions of people living and working in them.
“Riyadh plans to doubles its resident from 7.5 million today to 15-20 million in 2030 to make Riyadh one of the world’s 10 largest city economies according to the Vision of Riyadh, which was launched last January. The urban design of the new expansions of the capital city is expected to take micro-mobility into consideration by creating the suitable infrastructure for micro-mobility”, said Mohammed Abduljabbar.
“Saudi Arabia’s new generations are more open to new lifestyles. They form more than 60% of the population. They can lead the transportation transformation in the Kingdom with micro-mobility solutions. How soon would people go to work using an e-scooter or e-bike? It won’t take long, I believe”, he concluded.
