Blog 5: Beyond the Bike Lane: Building a Cycle-Centric Mobility System

Cities today are struggling under the weight of traffic, emissions, and inequity. Car dependency locks residents into expensive, often unhealthy commutes. Public transit, while essential, often struggles with reach, reliability, and ridership. Tech firms have attempted to fill the gaps—launching scooter fleets, ride-hailing apps, even algorithmic bus routes. But the core problem persists: the personal car remains the default. And in most urban areas, no one's developed a comprehensive alternative.

That challenge stems not from a lack of options, but from a lack of integration. Mobility systems remain fragmented, and too often designed around infrastructure rather than people.

If cities want to make meaningful progress on congestion, emissions, and transportation costs, they need to rethink not just how people move—but what they move with. A cycle-centric MaaS (Mobility as a Service) model could address this challenge. And it begins by treating the Portable Electric Bike (PEB) not as an add-on, but as the central component of urban mobility.

The Problem with Most MaaS Platforms

MaaS was intended to solve the chaos of modern mobility by offering seamless, app- based access to different modes of transportation. But the execution has been limited —and for understandable reasons. Most platforms today are built to serve existing transit infrastructure or commercial fleets—subway schedules, scooter rentals, taxi APIs—because that's where the business models align. Transit authorities want ridership, Uber and Lyft want trips, micromobility providers want rentals. Each supplier optimizes for their own revenue stream, not necessarily for the user's best journey.

The result is fragmented experiences where users often pay more for convenience that isn't actually convenient. A "seamless" trip might involve surge pricing, rental fees, and dead batteries—hardly an improvement over car ownership costs when you factor in time and reliability.

Micromobility, when it appears at all, is usually relegated to rental tabs or suggestion features because owned bikes generate no per-trip revenue for platform operators.

That represents a missed opportunity. Because the most underutilized asset in urban mobility isn't a subway car or a rideshare van—it's the person with their own lightweight e-bike, ready to ride, fold, and adapt to the needs of the day.

A MaaS platform that supports that rider—not just with routing, but with access, flexibility, and transit integration—could shift the default away from private cars while actually reducing transportation costs for users.

A Day in the Life of Cycle-Centric MaaS

Consider the commute of a PEB rider in a well-integrated system. In the morning, the rider opens their app. It's aware of forecasted rain later in the day and suggests a hybrid route: bike to the train station, board with the folded PEB, and ride the final mile to the office. No need for parking. No worry about theft. No coordination between multiple apps.

Later, when the weather deteriorates, the same app offers a seamless alternative: fold the bike, board the bus, and finish the trip via a short ride-hail. Payments, schedules, and way finding are all handled systematically. The rider just moves—fluidly, efficiently, and affordably.

This isn't "bike-only" idealism. It's a vision of a city where the bike leads, and other modes support it.

Why Transit Still Matters

A bike-led system doesn't mean abandoning public transit. In fact, it depends on it.

When a PEB becomes part of the commute, transit reach expands. Those living 2 to 5 kilometers from a train station suddenly become viable transit users. The problematic "first-mile/last-mile" gap shrinks. And for households that can't or don't want to rely on a car, the bike-transit combination becomes a viable option.

In return, transit supports cyclists by offering shelter from weather, speed for longer trips, and accessible service for riders unable to bike on any given day. Foldable e- bikes don't demand new rail cars or boarding infrastructure. They integrate into existing systems—quietly expanding their utility and equity without major capital investment.

What the App Should Actually Do

A functional cycle-centric MaaS app must be designed around ownership—not rentals. Most micromobility apps are built for shared use, overlooking the growing segment of riders with their own equipment.

To serve them effectively, the platform should optimize for multimodal trips where cycling is the primary mode of transportation. The MaaS app should suggest protected bike lanes, integrate real-time transit schedules, account for elevation, weather, and folding-bike access rules. It needs to remember patterns and preferences—whether a rider avoids hills, prefers greenways, or likes to coordinate with a particular bus line. It should make backup plans straightforward: a quick rideshare if a tire fails, a secure lock-up spot if a folding mechanism malfunctions. Mobility, in this framework, is not a marketplace—it's an ecosystem that supports individual trips, whether multimodal or not.

A Practical, Scalable Evolution

Most urban trips are under five miles. That fact alone should reshape how we think about transportation investment. A system built around the PEB can move more people more cost-effectively, with lower emissions and less infrastructure demand. It reduces pressure on roads, lowers public spending, and increases access—especially for communities underserved by fixed-route transit.

Yet perhaps its most significant promise is this: it frees people from the false binary of "car or bus." Instead, the city becomes modular. Movement becomes intuitive. And trips become individualized—not based on what the street was designed for, but what the rider needs.