The Netherlands: Interesting Electric Motorcycle Taxi Company |
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File under Electrical Ecology Travel
Author: Mike Werner
Location: Normandy, France
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The Netherlands is an eco-friendly country, with cities like Amsterdam seeing more bicycles than cars. There are quite a lot of motorcycles as well, but what's interesting is the new motorcycle taxi company operating in Amsterdam.
Since October 1st, the new Hopper  motorcycle taxi company offers a novel approach to bring people to their final destination. They use an electric scooter for the "last mile", in other words, for short inter-city destinations. But the interesting thing is that the scooters are limited to a maximum speed of 25 kph. That speed limit allows you to ride a scooter without a helmet in The Netherlands. This means logistically, it's easier to use, since the cab company doesn't need to bring different helmets. You really hop on and off. There's even a cargo bay to transport some small stuff.
Also interesting is the fare. There's only one price, and that is €2.50 no matter where you are going (but limited to Amsterdam city). That's about the same price you'd pay for the bus. There's a smartphone app that allows you to order the electric scooter, but you can also order them by phone or their website, or you can just hail one on the street.
Sponsored by the Amsterdam city itself, and with help of the Dutch railways and Minister of Ecology, there are a 100 of them operating in the city.
The creator of the service will extend the company to other cities in The Netherlands, and you could also find him shortly in bigger European cities.
A very novel service that could just be successful.
Click here to access the Hopper site (in English, with a nice video in Dutch).
Via: Avem
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