movmi’s Venkatesh Gopal was invited to join a conversation about the evolution of shared micromobility — alongside Julie White from the North Carolina Department of Transportation and Darius Mason from the City of Detroit. Hosted by Scott Shepard on The CitiesFirst Podcast, the discussion explored how shared micromobility, including scooters and e-bikes, has grown from an experimental trend into a critical part of urban transportation systems. While some cities embraced this shift quickly, others faced early resistance, confusion, or chaos. Together, the panel shared hard-earned lessons and their vision for the future of urban mobility.
Keep reading for key takeaways or listen to the full podcast here.
Reaching Beyond the Big Cities: North Carolina’s Approach
Julie White opened the conversation by emphasizing the importance of bringing micromobility to smaller towns and rural communities, not just major urban centers.
“These innovations tend to happen in the big cities first,” she said. “But what has been really fun for us is when we are able to do the innovation with our smaller towns.”
Julie also shared the example of microtransit (another form of shared mobility) in the City of Wilson, North Carolina. The city reached out to the state DOT, asking how they could launch a microtransit program, despite having no experience. Through collaboration, Wilson successfully implemented a rural microtransit service that has since inspired similar initiatives across the state. According to Julie, this reflects a broader trend. “Most of America still doesn’t live in big cities. They live in smaller towns, and those towns need mobility solutions too.”
The same goes for shared micromobility today, as we see more operators and municipalities making it happen for smaller cities compared to the major metros that used to be rather privileged a few years ago.
Detroit’s Equity Challenge: Spreading the Benefits
While North Carolina focused on rural innovation, Detroit has been tackling a different challenge. As a sprawling city with 138 square miles of land, Detroit’s micromobility system was initially concentrated in a few central neighbourhoods. This created inequity in access.
Darius Mason explained, “The scooter program was only highlighting Courttown, Midtown, and New Center. That’s about ten square miles out of the whole city.”
Hired specifically to address this issue, Darius led a campaign to push micromobility into previously underserved areas. By working with vendors and creating a targeted strategy, usage beyond the city core rose significantly and continues to do so even today. “We turned that 95 percent central usage down to the high 70s,” he said. “The goal is to hit a fifty-fifty split in the coming years.”
What is especially encouraging, Darius noted, is that expanding access hasn’t led to a drop in use. “Ridership actually went up as we expanded. That proves there’s real demand across the whole city, not just downtown.”
Expanding beyond dense downtown areas, as seen in Detroit, increases community access, builds a steady demand pipeline, and strengthens trust in shared micromobility.
A Consultant’s Perspective: Vancouver’s Hybrid Innovation
Venkatesh Gopal offered a neutral consultant’s lens into this evolution, having worked with cities across Canada and internationally. From his view, the micromobility boom has forced cities to rethink how infrastructure and regulation keep pace with new technology.
“When carsharing started, cities were more relaxed because it was still cars parked in legal parking spaces,” Venkatesh said. “…but scooters are different. They’re small, nimble, and often misunderstood. That made people feel like they could take them anywhere, park them anywhere.”
The result was often chaos in the early days. “Devices were scattered all over the sidewalks. Cities didn’t know how to respond, but now the industry has matured…”
He cited Vancouver’s recent launch of a fully docked scooter program. This approach offers users predictability and gives the city greater control over operations. “It’s a structured system. Pricing is aligned with e-bikes, and it’s planned alongside the city’s bike-share network. This is how cities have started exploring ways to balance convenience and regulation.”
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Discover more insights on micromobility, integration, and inclusive transportation design on movmi’s blog.