If you step out onto a street corner in NYC these days, you’ll instantly notice the city is buzzing with delivery workers: couriers zip across streets and sidewalks — not always quite following traffic laws — to deliver food, packages, documents and more. It can be a tough job with low pay, meaning these workers can often only afford the most bare-bones of e-bikes to make their jobs tenable.
That in turn has led to a battery fire crisis: poorly made batteries, beat-up hardware and shady charging situations have culminated in dangerous conflagrations destroying businesses and homes. And in turn, a number of startups have emerged, hoping to provide more reliable charging solutions to keep couriers, and their livelihoods, safe and sound.
On this week’s episode of Zag Talk, I sat down with PopWheels’ President & Co-Founder David Hammer to hear about his unique path into the hardware space, how to work with cities, fundraising, and the uniquely fun experiences you can have when you’re building a product for delivery workers.
And while Greg and I of course also banter about the week’s news, we’ve got another special feature: Sela Musa stopped by Micromobility Europe to report on all the latest two-wheeled innovations fresh on display in Brussels.
HOT INDUSTRY NEWS & GOSSIP
Lyft launches new ad formats: Remember how last week was all about DoorDash’s big ad push? Well now it’s Lyft’s turn, with the TNC introing Sponsored Map Vehicles, Sponsored Rides by Mode, non-skippable video ads when waiting for “Wait and Save” rides and other ad-tastic goodies. With Meta also cramming new ads into Whatsapp, it’s clear that every inch of your screen space that can be monetized, will be monetized.
Transpo funding struggles… You might not think it, with AV cos still hauling in billions, but transportation and logistics deals are still way down from the heady days of 2021. Overall private equity deal count has held up better than total deal value, suggesting that both valuations have come back to earth and that more $$ is flowing towards earlier stage companies.
It’s the insurance, stupid! European TNC inDrive is giving up on its brief foray into America, finding that insurance prices makes its low-cost business model untenable. American drivers are particularly reckless, our society is litigious and South Florida — its test market — is an especially bad region for insurance fraud.
Taste testing new curbs: I had the pleasure of giving a test stroll along the brand new Rail to Rail Active Transportation Corridor, which just opened in South LA, connecting the K, J and A lines via a former railbed near Slauson Blvd. The foliage still needs some time to mature, but it’ll prove a great first / last mile connection for the community. Elsewhere in the City of Angels, 11th street near Staples Center (I won’t utter its new name) and the convention center has been closed to autos and rebuilt as a ped plaza.
If only we had a way to enforce traffic laws… New Caltrans data shows that more and more single occupancy drivers are illegally motoring in the carpool lanes; on some stretches of freeway it’s as high as 48.6% of drivers. It seems we as a nation have basically given up on enforcing most of the rules and norms that made society function, and we’ll all be worse off for it.
Safety first: New Waymo data proves how much safer a good AV can be than your average human driver. Getting more of these out on the streets is one thing, but to really improve road safety we’ll need laws that mandate speed limiters and crack down on distracted driving (and for the likelihood of that, see the previous item…)
Curb contract: LADOT is soliciting bids for its Code the Curb DTLA project. If you’ve got camera tech that can monitor parking, dwell times, and turnover rates, now’s the time to throw your hat in the ring!
Tacoma train: Transit riders in the Puget Sound, rejoice! Sound Transit has picked its route for the light rail extension to Tacoma, linking the region’s two most populous cities. Now to wait a few decades for it to actually get built…
A few good links: Nexar telematics head to Flywheel cabs. NY Senate okays S1047, which would establish a rebate for ebike and scooter purchases. Applied Intuition raises $600M at $15B valuation. JFK Airtrain drops ludicrous fares to *just* $4.25 for the summer. Waymo returns to NYC for mapping and testing. SF Muni cuts five bus lines as funding crisis looms.
Happy Juneteenth!
- Jonah Bliss & The Curbivore Crew
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