"Mo" Bike Sharing Cobines Zipcar and Bike Share

Introducing mo from LUNAR Europe on Vimeo.
What do you get when you cross a Zipcar model of car sharing with a bike sharing system and a public transport pass on steroids? You get Mo. Mo better. Mo convenient. Mo mobility.


Developed by Munich-based design firm Lunar Europe, Green City e.V. and the University of Wuppertal, Mo is supposed to fulfill people's actual mobility needs.

Mo's creators studied Munich's inhabitants - noting that more than 50% of all trips are still taken by personal car (although 80% of citizens own a bike). Once they had the stats, Mo's makers tried to create more attractive mobility options than those cars. According to its designers:

"Mo provides alternatives: the appropriate means of transport is available for any occasion and in any situation, even spontaneously."

mo - mobility for tomorrow from LUNAR Europe on Vimeo.
Mo's smartphone app is the brains of the system, keeping an accounting of each member's use of public transport and of rentals or 'shares' - of a bicycle or cargo bikes, e-bikes, and cars. All of these options can be accessed through a single car, or also through a member's smart phone. The app also features train and bus timetables.

Mo tries to encourage users to take the most sustainable option by offering positive incentives. Depending on the transport option chosen, the Mo user might accrue miles for later use. Even if a user is using her own bicycle (fitted with a special RFID tag) he or she can earn award miles. Those miles can later be used, for example, to get car sharing, or to charge an e-bike. Accruing larger Mo mile balances reduce a user's membership and usage costs.


Mo's creators, who tested and piloted the concept in Munich, are hoping Mo will also function as a kind of social network by letting users stay connected via the software and announce rides and events. While Mo is definitely a step forward in car and bike sharing, it seems like a really effective system would also involve pedestrian activity in some way.