Tag: #scooters

Zeus Scooters Acquires Zipp Mobility

Zeus Scooters, a leading Irish mobility company, today announced that it has acquired Zipp Mobility, an Irish shared e-scooter and e-bike service provider, for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition will enable Zeus to continue to expand its reach into the Irish and UK markets and follows-on from its acquisition last year of UK-based scooter-sharing operator, Zwings.

The acquisition brings together two of the most innovative and customer-focused e-scooter companies in Europe and creates Ireland’s largest homegrown micromobility company.

Zeus, headquartered in Carlow, was founded by Damian Young in 2019. The company began an e-scooter sharing service in Germany in 2020 and since then it has expanded rapidly across Europe and Asia.

Zipp, headquartered at NovaUCD in Dublin, was founded by Charlie Gleeson in 2019. Since then the company has launched e-scooter and e-bike services in 9 locations across Ireland, the UK and Poland.

With this latest acquisition Zeus is now operating in over 50 locations across 9 (Croatia, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Malaysia, Norway, Poland, Sweden and UK) countries. The combined Irish business of Zeus will now have 50 employees and all Zipp staff are being kept on.

Damian Young, CEO and Founder, Zeus, said, “With today’s announcement we are proud to be expanding Zeus’ commitment to offer an affordable, customer-focused mobility solution that places sustainability and rider safety first. We have been very impressed with what Zipp has achieved over the past number of years and are very excited to bring the Zipp team and expertise under the Zeus umbrella.  This acquisition is a testament to the hard work and dedication of both teams, and we look forward to bringing our industry-leading safety features to even more customers.”

He added, “We are also creating regional employment across Ireland in anticipation of new legislation for the Irish micromobility sector, while also further expanding Zeus new markets in the UK.”

Charlie Gleeson, CEO and Founder, Zipp Mobility said, “We are delighted to be able to share the news that Zipp has been acquired by Zeus. In essence, we are two companies who share the same core mission and values, to make our cities more accessible to all, through affordable and sustainable modes of transport. I am very proud of what both companies have achieved individually, but I am more excited for what we can achieve together as the leading micromobility company in Ireland.”

Ronan Garvey, Chief Product Officer, Zeus, said, “Zeus and Zipp are deeply committed to providing high-quality, reliable and affordable transportation options globally. The acquisition of Zipp puts us in an even stronger position to meet the evolving needs of customers across its markets.”

Zeus Scooters and Zipp Mobility have been supported by Enterprise Ireland.

Mobility companies say programme commitment to legislate for e-scooters should be urgent priority in new government #escooters

A group of major mobility providers in Ireland have written to Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party to welcome the commitment in the Programme for Government to legislate for e-scooters, but have also called for a radical rethink in how Ireland manages transport.

FREE NOW, Lime, Bleeperbike, Zip Mobility and Zeus have said any new incoming government must make legislation for e-scooters and other forms of Powered Personal Transporters (PPT) an immediate priority in the wake of COVID-19.

In an open letter sent to the leaders of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party, the providers highlighted the need to radically rethink how Ireland manages transport and the requirement for new forms of micro mobility: “Now, more than ever, we can encourage a shift into alternative forms of transport. Other countries have made the deployment of micro-mobility a key step in supporting their re-opening, it is time for Ireland to do the same. COVID-19 has changed how people will travel and many are seeking alternatives that allow social distancing. E-scooters and other forms of micro-mobility can support this.”

Image by Christian Bueltemann from Pixabay

Alan Fox, General Manager of FREE NOW said: “We have brought together the major mobility providers in Ireland and are calling on any incoming government to prioritise the legislation of e-scooters and other micro mobility as a matter of urgency. While we welcome the commitments made in the new Programme for Government, we urge any incoming government to make this legislation a top priority. Ireland needs to radically rethink how we manage the traditional transport modes such as buses and trains to reduce clustering of commuters at peak times.  Taxi drivers have been working throughout the pandemic to get essential workers to where they need to be. Taxis will continue to offer the potential to transport passengers in an effective, socially-distanced way, but we now see people looking for greater mode diversity and alternatives to public transport as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

We need to offer alternative modes of transport that enable people to get around without putting more private cars on the streets, which would ratchet up congestion again and increase harmful carbon emissions. Now is the time for any new government to allow for more choice and encourage people to leave their cars at home and use e-bikes, e-scooters and other forms of micro mobility.”   

The Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport ran a public consultation on Personal Powered Transporters (PPTs) last year, but no recent progress has been made to introduce new legislation that would permit the use of e-scooters in Ireland. The commitment to legislate for e-scooters was included in the recently-announced Programme for Government.

The mobility providers also said in the letter that: “We believe that we can help people travel responsibly and we will help usher in the return of economic activity. This is a great opportunity for a new government to encourage passengers to get out of private cars and onto bikes, scooters and other forms of micro-mobility.” 

Electric scooters, an efficient and carbon-friendly transport mode that is tailor-made for the new socially-distanced normal, are already an integral part of the transport mix in many European countries like Germany and France that are easing restrictions with measured transport circulation.