Electric scooter sharing service seeks to transform traffic in Mexico City

Econduce, the first electric scooter sharing service in Mexico City, wants to transform traffic patterns and make it easier to get around, while saving commuters time and providing environmental benefits.

“With my car, I was stuck in traffic all the time,” Jair Montelongo, an Econduce user, told Efe. “I heard about this service and now I go where I want to go quickly and without hassles.”

Jair rides an electric scooter and travels from his home to the university in 15 minutes, a commute that would take more than 30 minutes by car, if he was lucky not to get snared in a traffic jam.

And, besides, he quickly finds a place to park in crowded Mexico City.

Econduce is the creation of two Mexicans who, after earning master’s degrees in Britain, returned to the capital two years ago and saw the need to find transportation alternatives.

“It was necessary to deal with traffic chaos and air pollution,” Econduce cofounder Eduardo Porta said.

In 2014, according to navigation company TomTom, Mexico City had the world’s second most congested traffic, with 110 hours per year wasted at the wheel.

Econduce, established in late 2014, aims to provide “sustainable and beneficial alternative mobility,” Porta said.

“This is not an exclusive solution, but we support interconnectivity among transportation modalities,” Porta said.

Commuters agree and are using both the electric scooter sharing service and its bicycle counterpart, Ecobici, as well as mass transit, taxicabs and private vehicles.

Take Jorge Leon de la Barra, operations manager for a score of dental clinics, who uses scooters to visit the facilities.

“You can ride on it fine wearing a suit,” Leon de la Barra told Efe. “It is not uncomfortable and you don’t even sweat.”

Econduce currently operates 50 scooters with seven stations in downtown neighborhoods, with plans to expand the stations to 1416 and, by the end of the year, deploy a fleet of 100 scooters, Porta said.

The customer base for expansion is there and Econduce already has 170 users, with a waiting list of nearly 1,500 people, Porta said, adding that the company wanted to test the market in a first phase before expanding.

In addition to the obvious time savings, the scooters, imported from China and personalized by Econduce, are environmentally friendly.

The scooter’s battery can be recharged with any electric outlet in four hours, giving the vehicle a 45kilometer (28mile) range.

The engine has an 80 percent efficiency rate compared to 30 percent for a gasoline engine, Econduce said.

When riding an Econduce scooter, the first surprise is how little noise the engine makes, reducing noise pollution.

Which can be a doubleedged sword in Mexico City, where vehicles use every visual and sound tool to make their way through the asphalt jungle.

“You must ride paying much attention,” Leon said. “Scooter riders are very exposed to careless auto drivers.”

For safety reasons, riders are provided with a helmet and Econduce offers training on use of the scooters.

The climate in Mexico City, however, works against Econduce since the region has a long rainy season, users said.