Platform innovation in urban mobility transitions

Abstract

In the summer of 2017, the city of Amsterdam was overwhelmed by thousands of bikes that were put on its streets. They were not the typical privately owned Dutch bikes you would expect and that the global cycling capital is so fond of. These bikes were different: bright colors, odd designs, catchy brand names, parked all over the city and available to anyone with a smartphone. The strange bikes were distributed by foreign startups and apparently not only in Amsterdam. They were rapidly launching on a large scale in cities across the world, from Beijing to Berlin and from Melbourne to Manchester. This fueled high expectations among urban authorities globally as cities welcome more cycling in their endeavor to create clean, healthy and accessible cities. At the same time they also caused immediate controversy as not everyone welcomed these bikes. Bike sharing could be a sustainable and affordable solution to complex urban challenges. Were we witnessing an urban mobility transition in the making? Three years later, most of these bikes left the streets of Amsterdam and much of the initial excitement is toned down. Leftover bikes are now for sale at local thrift stores. In China, most cities now have colorful bicycle graveyards filled with hundreds of thousands unused two-wheelers. In this dissertation I unravel the journey -the rise and fall -of this seemingly promising urban mobility innovation.