In the wake of the pandemic and despite increased focus on personal mobility, single-occupancy shared mobility is witnessing a surge in comparison to multi-occupancy shared mobility.
Global shared mobility market is expected to grow to $1.55 trillion by 2030 from $731.8 billion valued in 2020, claims a report by research agency Frost & Sullivan. The study also claims that despite the major setback to the shared mobility due to the Covid-19 pandemic, this segment’s market value size across the world will exceed $1 trillion by 2026.
The different modes in this segment including car sharing, bike sharing and ride-hailing are likely to grow faster than mass transport modes. The riders’ usage of multi-occupancy mass transport segment including bus, train, metro etc has been hit hard due to the Coronavirus pandemic, social distancing norms etc. On the other hand, single-occupancy shared mobility solutions have seen a surge in user volume, despite the focus on personal mobility.
Despite the pandemic and the growing concerns about the usage of mass transport mediums, increasing urban population and rising penetration of smartphones are key driving factors behind the expected surge of shared mobility across the world. Apart from that, tightening emission norms and shifting focus on autonomous mobility technology too are playing a vital role in this growth story. As the research claims, mobility-as-a-service and autonomous mobility will lead to a surging shift in technology-enabled and aided safe transport.
During lockdown companies across the world announced measures like Work from Home (WFH), which led to a massive slump in the rider volume for the shared mobility segment. However, with the gradual pick up in economic activities and reopening of businesses and economies, a smaller chunk of the workforce across companies are returning to their pre-Covid pattern of working from the office. This is helping in the revival of shared mobility segment, far away from the pre-Covid level albeit.
According to Chanchal Jetha, senior research analyst, Frost & Sullivan, in the short term, shared mobility operators should focus on bringing in revenues from alternative streams like essential goods delivery, which could become a continuing trend over the medium term.
Interestingly, this is another trend we have seen emerged and growing during and after the lockdown. “Over the past decade, there has been rapid progress toward a new paradigm for transporting people in cities. Driven by quickly evolving technologies, new business models, and shifting societal expectations, shared mobility has become more sustainable, efficient, and convenient,” said Jetha.
For example, earlier this year, bike-based shared mobility service provider Rapido started the delivery of goods service that allows the users to order groceries, food, beverages from Rapido at an extra service charge. also, the company has started offering person-to-person delivery service as well.
One of the largest shared mobility aggregators, Uber also has started its goods delivery service earlier this year. Clearly, the shared mobility operators are coming up with new business models to bring in revenues, which are offering the consumers last-mile mobility/delivery solutions, without affecting their safety during the pandemic.
Talking about the shared mobility market’s growth outlook, Jetha said, “The shared mobility market is expected to have a stagnant growth in 2020, with Covid-19-related lockdowns affecting bookings and journeys. However, the economic impact of the pandemic on the sector will be short-lived, with the market expected to make a full recovery by the end of 2021.”
He also said that with the necessary support from cities, demand-responsive transport (DRT), and Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) solutions, the demand for public transport is expected to increase in the long term, leading to an uptake in technology-enabled safe transport solutions.
Meanwhile, another study claims that the fleet in this segment in India will grow by a CAGR of 9.7% to 4.7 million units by 2025, from 2.0 million units recorded in 2019. Interestingly, several companies and startups including Uber, Ola, Rapido etc have played a key role in the growth of the segment in the last couple of years.
Also Read: Shared mobility fleet in India to grow by 9.7% to 4.7 million by 2025
