Lime which is active in 50 cities across 20 European, the Middle East and Asian countries has rolled out a much-awaited ‘Group Ride’ feature allowing users to book and unlock 5 e-scooters at a time from the single app and single account. However, Lime has only made this feature accessible to the riders in the UAE. Lime users of the Abu Dhabi where Lime began operating at the end of November 2019, will be able to access group ride feature straight from the iOS and Android devices. 

Considering the fact that group riding is more dangerous, Lime asked each user to obey the company’s rules and regulations which include wearing a helmet, not carrying a pillion, and respecting the pedestrians. 

Many business experts and industry experts believe that the underlying purpose behind Lime’s group riding feature is attracting more university students who prefer to travel with their friends. In fact, university students are the most potential users of micro-mobility startups like Lime. 

Additionally, integrating features based on the characteristics of the user groups is the most proven and effective technique to acquire more users. When Uber launched the taxi booking app in Bangladesh, they studied the market, defined the user groups, discovered their characteristics, and introduced not only a new feature but a whole new service called Uber Moto. Same way, if you want to perform well in the overly intensified micro-mobility market, you should define the user groups and add dedicated features for all of them. 

In this blog, we will discuss top user groups of the e-scooter app, their characteristics and which are the best features for all user groups to give them the best user experience. We will also include the cost to actualize the e-scooter app like Lime with all basic as well as futuristic features. 

Most potential users of the e-scooter app

We at the Coruscate accommodate many well-versed business experts who have ceaselessly studied the micro-mobility ecosystem to deliver our more than 5 micro-mobility projects with the highest-ever success rate. And we actually did it. Also, while collecting data of the micro-mobility market, we accidentally came across many game-changing market insights. ‘Top user groups’ is one of them. This data is so significant that if you build the e-scooter app by taking this data into account, you can easily double the user engagement and user retention rate.  

How to Make an e scooter App Like Lime, Develop Alternative app of Lime, Lime alternative app features to consider

Following are the top e-scooter app user groups and dedicated e-scooter app features for all of them.

User Group #1: University students 

University students are the most potential users of the e-scooter app. If you pay heed to their requirements and do justice with them, they can help you conquer the market. 

Almost all top e-scooter rental startups have started their business journey by deploying e-scooters within the boundaries of a university campus. For instance, Lime e-scooter rental startup which is valued at over $2.4 Billion has first deployed its shared micro-mobility vehicles at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Not only Lime but the latest American micro-mobility startup, Fly Rentals, has also chosen the surrounding areas of the Western Michigan University and its campus as the business terrain and been witnessing an unexpected growth. 

Characteristics of ‘university students’ user group:

• They generally travel in a group. 
• They are always looking for fun. 
• They give a cold shoulder to safety. 
• They can’t afford the high fare.

E-scooter app features for ‘university students’ user group:

(Before discussing dedicated e-scooter app features for the university students, it is worth mentioning that your hired e-scooter app development company should integrate a module in the app which first scans the profile details of the users to identify whether he belongs to ‘university students’ user group or any other user groups and then decides the app interface based on the identified user group. The easier option is to add the button of the ‘group riding’ feature along with many other features for other user groups and let riders choose the most preferred feature.) 

• Like Lime, allow a user to book and unlock maximum 5 e-scooters from the single app, single account. 
• The person who books the e-scooter is called Host and his co-riders are called Guests. 
• All details of the rides and e-scooters including the fare are exhibited on the host’s account. 
• The host can any time end all rides individually or in bulk. 
• To encourage them to wear a helmet, you can ask them to upload a photo wearing a helmet to earn credit for the next ride. 
• To offer the affordable rides to university students, you can tie up with universities and introduce an affordable weekly or monthly pass with unlimited riding minutes. 
• You can also work with the universities to enable students to unlock the e-scooter by just tapping their identification cards. ( We have the expertise and we can surely help you build such a system without charging any extra. )

User Group #2: Commuters 

After university students, commuters are the most potential users. Rising gasoline prices and climate change issues give many reasons to commuters to give up on cars and opt for an eco-friendly mode of transportation. 

However, commuters who use e-scooters to commute are generally divided into two user groups. First user group of the commuters travels in metro buses or trains to a certain location and then uses e-scooters to reach office. And another user group of the commuters uses e-scooters to travel directly from home to office and office to home.

Characteristics of the ‘Commuters’ user group:

• They always want to discover and book e-scooters instantly. 
• They always want to reach the office or home on time. 
• They hate to leave the e-scooter app and open other navigation apps to find the most relevant and safer route.
• They want e-scooters for a fixed time period, on the fixed days.

E-scooter app features for ‘commuters’ user group:

• Ask a user a fixed time when he needs an e-scooter to reach office or home and based on that input, books the nearest e-scooter automatically for that rider and sends him the notification.
• Give him the time window to either accept the booking or decline it.
• Ask a user his office and home addresses and show him the most relevant and safer route once he unlocks the e-scooter. (Safer route includes the route which has dedicated bicycle lane.)

Also read : How to Launch Your Own Electric Scooter App Like Lime? Get App in $10k

User Group #3: Casual users

E-scooter is the most affordable mode of transportation and one can utilize it to save a lot of bucks and complete daily chores effortlessly. People who want to visit the nearest doctor, nearest grocery store and the nearest park can unlock the e-scooter and drive there while not causing the trouble to their pocket as well as to the environment. 

Characteristics of ‘casual users’ user group:

• Casual users generally use e-scooters to not travel far. 
• They are always looking for nearest utility shops and parks.  
• They do not want to be charged while they park e-scooters outside of the shop to complete their tasks in the shop.

E-scooter app features for ‘casual user’ user group:

• Show them the nearest utility shops and parks in the app itself with the ETA.
• Allow them to pause the ride only for fixed minutes.
• When they pause the ride, read the data from the speed sensor of the e-scooter hardware and if it is moving, decline the pause ride request.

User Group #4: Tourists 

Tourists are the most underrated users of the e-scooter apps. A tourist visiting a new city has mainly two requirements. He wants to explore the city while having fun and he doesn’t want to spend too much to explore the city. So now, if he rents a car, he has to spend too much and if he uses public transportation, he can’t have fun travelling in crowded metro buses and trains. So, what is the alternative? Of course, the e-scooter. 

E-scooter which is affordable and fun to ride is the best mode of transportation for any tourist, period! 

Characteristics of ‘tourists’ user group: 

• They do not want to skip a single city attraction. 
• They want to find the nearest restaurants, ATMs and public toilets. 
• They also want to get weather information and real-time alert. 
• They would like to take a guided city tour.  

E-scooter app features for ‘tourists’ user group: 

• Show them all city attractions on the map with ETA and availability of e-scooters. 
• Show them the all nearby restaurants, ATMs, and public toilets and also navigate them there.
• Let them check the weather from the app itself. And In the case of severe weather, alert them.
• If possible, give a guided city tour on e-scooters like an Australian micro-mobility company named RIDE. 

Want to include all these e-scooter app features into your next e-scooter app? We can do wonders for you!

Coruscate is the top e-scooter app development company which accommodates 100+ IoT engineers, app developers, app designers, research fellows, legal experts and business experts who all work together to make your business journey painless. 

Our app developers and IoT engineers take care of the e-scooter hardware and e-scooter software (e-scooter mobile app), our research fellows and business experts study the market, prepare the profitable business model and draft the whole business plan. Whereas, our legal experts help you to get a permit from the government. 

We, at the Coruscate, build the e-scooter app like Lime for micro-mobility startups with all common and latest features in around $10k. You can share your custom requirements to get the personalized quotation.

We also provide free e-scooter app demo and free consultation.

Note: We do not make clones of any exact application, clone means to us is how better we can execute your app idea with existing app features and experience.