Berlin-based micro-mobility company TIER Mobility announced that it has partnered with Dutch transport app Gaiyo, a company that develops smart technological solutions for mobility, a partnership that will enable arranging TIER’s electric shared scooters and bikes via Gaiyo’s mobility app.
About Gaiyo
Gaiyo, launched in 2020 by Innovactory, is a Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) app that functions as a personal travel assistant. It provides a real-time overview of all available travel options and combinations, complete with departure and arrival times, travel time, and costs.
Options range from train, tram, and bus to shared transport. The app also shows the available times of connecting public transport and is available free for Android and iOS users.
Why the partnership?
Gaiyo is the first Dutch app with which TIER has entered into a collaboration like this. The parties claim that for both of them this integration is an important step in the full development of MaaS.
Jesper Vis, GM Benelux at TIER, says, “Our mission to change mobility for good is largely about creating strong partnerships to expand everyone’s access to sustainable, easily accessible, and multimodal mobility solutions. Teaming up with Netherlands’ leading MaaS app Gaiyo will allow us to expand access to our micro-mobility services in Utrecht and Eindhoven.”
Here’s how Gaiyo will help TIER mobility
Electric micro-mobility like TIER’s helps cover the first and last mile, such as the ride from home to a train station, or from a P+R to workplace in the city center. The addition of TIER’s e-scooters and e-bikes in Gaiyo makes it easy to use this type of shared transportation.
Gaiyo’s route planner will scan TIER’s available scooters and bikes at the user’s location and will incorporate them into various route recommendations. With this service, users can choose different means and combinations of transport, depending on their mobility preferences. The entire trip can be planned, booked, and paid for with the Gaiyo app.
Lucien Groenhuijzen, CEO of Innovactory, says, “Our partnership with TIER is a great demonstration of how committed Gaiyo is to being a multi-mobility platform. It is our mission to empower smarter mobility decisions and help people to access a large variety of nearby transport options – we are looking forward to bringing even more sustainable micro-mobility options to cities across the Netherlands.”
Paying from the Gaiyo wallet
Users can pay in advance for the use of a TIER vehicle from Gaiyo wallet. If the actual costs turn out to be less than the cost of the reserved time, Gaiyo will return the excess amount to the user’s wallet.
However, if the amount is in the negative, the balance will be debited automatically. The starting rate is €1 and users pay between €0.15 and €0.30 per minute, depending on the vehicle and the location.
About TIER Mobility
Founded in 2018 by Lawrence Leuschner, Julian Blessin, and Matthias Laug, TIER Mobility is a shared micro-mobility provider of e-scooters, e-bikes, and e-mopeds, and integrated with 30 different public transport providers.
Currently, the company operates in more than 145 cities in 16 countries across Europe and the Middle East. As of September 30, 2021, the company is active in the Netherlands. TIER’s bikes can be found in Eindhoven and Utrecht, while scooters are available only in Utrecht. According to TIER, other Dutch cities are likely to follow.
TIER is also climate-neutral and a UN 50 Climate Leader, and its CEO & co-founder has pledged to donate his entire stake in the business to sustainability causes from which he will not financially benefit.
The company is already profitable and recently secured significant external funding to expand its unique Energy Network - which utilises British battery technology manufactured in Oxfordshire – into cities seeking to benefit from the air quality, high street, and consumer benefits of rider-swappable batteries.
The company is backed by investors including SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Mubadala Capital, Northzone, Goodwater Capital, and White Star Capital.