Transport for London and London’s Councils have announced Dott, Lime and TIER Mobility to be the chosen three in the race to be London’s sole e-scooter provider. Following a recent competitive tender, the 12 month trial for all three companies will begin on 7th June 2021.
E-scooters have been a point of contention in the capital and whilst personally owned e-scooters are still outlawed on the UK’s public roads, rental e-scooters were made legal to ride last year. This opens up a new opportunity for sustainable travel and begs the question as to whether e-scooters will be the next great shift in modern mobility for cities.
The appeal of e-scooters is simple; it’s a convenient and safe way to travel and enjoy cities. Even during a pandemic, it gives people an option to travel without being surrounded by others in closed spaces, on buses or the London Underground for example. Being a ‘zero-emission’ travel option also contributes to the development of a greener transport system that is accessible for everyone and on the agenda for most major cities around the world.
Mobility is catching on to the power of carrier billing. Users require a quick and frictionless contact free payment method and Direct Carrier billing (DCB) is just that. DCB provides a frictionless and ubiquitous payment method that allows users to pay on the go. There are an estimated 72 million mobile phones in the UK, so having an all-mobile solution where the payment flow is entirely linked to the phone itself keeps the payment friction down and users can instantly transact without payment registration.
We’re excited to see how carrier billing can help remodel mobile payments for the mobility sector. If you’d like to get in touch with us about how we can improve the payments systems for your mobility platform, email us at hello@fonix.com.