Rappi skateboards arrive in May: in which neighborhood can you rent them?

Urban mobility contemplates, in the 21st century, new alternatives to transit from one point to another without saturating traffic.

The automakers, for example, began to bet on more flexible rental services that allow their users to use a vehicle under the on demand modality. That is, only when they require it and as long as they wish.

Others, on the other hand, have cheaper options in the folder, as is the rent of bicycles. In Buenos Aires, this market today is exploited by the Government of the City of Buenos Aires through its "Ecobicis" system.

Rappi, the most popular delivery platform in the Federal Capital, has everything ready to be the first technology to join these new forms of transport. And he will do it with the help of Grin, the Mexican company with which he teamed up to bring his electric skateboard service to Argentina.

The date of the start-up of the project is already marked in the calendar: according to iProUP sources who have informed the initiative, the first units will start circulating in the streets of Buenos Aires in May.

The neighborhood was also established: Palermo will be the first to receive the Grin units. Such is the case that the firm has already started its journey through the premises and offices in the area, with the aim of "associating" them with the service as retirement stations for electric skateboards.

Strictly speaking, there will be at least two points that will be installed per block and the associated premises will not have responsibility over the units (between 4 or 5 per position); That will be on the part of the startup.

For establishments that join this move, the company assures them:

- The payment of a fee for the use of space

- Better visibility, since they will be highlighted in the app

- The increase in pedestrian traffic

- Participation in activities and promotions to be carried out with users through the stations

Another leg of the service is that of the "loaders": people who take care of picking up electric skateboards at night, recharge their batteries and return them the next morning to each station.

The company will pay at the end of the week for each unit loaded. The amount would be around $ 70 for each load that exceeds 90%, if you consider what is paid for that same service in Mexico today.

The step by step
To use the service you have to download the app on your cell phone, necessary not only to pay for the service, but also to unlock the electric skateboards.

Each unit has a QR code that must be scanned to start circulating on the street; Once the payment is made, your wheels are unlocked.

Being equipped with GPS, the platform is able to detect the location of each of its units. And, if they are outside the coverage area (marked with a green circle on the map of the app), a surcharge will be charged to the user.

In view of the company, this will allow to maintain a control of electric skateboards, avoid thefts and induce those who use them to leave them in an area of ââ"accessibility" for other people.

The price, still to be defined, will be "economic, since the idea of ââRappi is to compete with the city's bikes," the sources told iProUP.

In this regard, you can take as a reference the rate charged today in Uruguay, converted to Argentine pesos: $ 25 as a base plus $ 5 per minute of use. Everything indicates that the values ââin the Federal Capital will be similar.

From the perspective of the company, these units are designed for the so-called "last mile". That is, for short journeys that require fast and agile mobility in a few minutes.

In this sense, Palermo turns out to be a conducive neighborhood for the launching, if one takes into account how difficult it is to get a place to park a car, task that in peak hours can demand between 25 minutes and half an hour.

Regarding the requirements, Grin requires that users are over 18 years old, use a helmet and only drive on roads that are suitable for this type of mobility.

In this regard, the Transportation and Traffic Commission of the Legislature is preparing a draft of a project that aims to incorporate the Buenos Aires Transit Code everything necessary to regulate this type of vehicle.

The legislators will be reflected in the requirements for bicycles with assisted pedaling. That is, the electric, recently incorporated into traffic regulations. The initiative includes the following points:

- It will set a maximum speed of up to 25km / h (the limit reached by these vehicles)

- Prohibit the use of children under 16 years of age

- Require safety standards, such as brakes on both wheels, refracting elements (front and rear)

- Request certifications from the National Institute of Industrial Technology (INTI)

- They will be in discussion if they must circulate on the bikeways or they can also do it on the sidewalks

A strategic move for Rappi
Grin made a move similar to the one that Mercado Libre made 20 years ago in the ecommerce segment: he took advantage of the fact that his great rivals in the United States, such as Lime and Jump, "slept" in their disembarkation to Latin America to get ahead and deploy their mobility in the region.

In this strategy, its alliance with Rappi is key, since the Colombian platform has a strong presence in practically all the markets in which it operates. Your app can be used to access the services of Grin directly.

At the same time, for the delivery company it means another important anchor in its increasingly expansive strategy, which has added inroads in the fintech segment and in urban messaging services and home delivery of supermarkets.

In this line, the latest innovation of the company in Argentina was Rappi Cash, which allows its users to request money at home.

On the other hand, it launched at the beginning of 2019 its option of payments via QR. This service already has more than 400 adhered stores where you can pay with RappiPay, its online payment platform.

In the country, the startup seems to go on wheels: it registers monthly increases of 30% in deals and half a million orders in the same period.

In addition, in its first year of operations in the local market, it recorded more than US $ 30 million in revenues. By 2019, the company expects to climb to US $ 150 million.

Back to grow leftover: it has already raised U $ S400 million since its foundation, thanks to the contribution of high profile investment funds such as the world-renowned Sequoia Capital and Andreessen Horowitz.

Only in its last round of financing did it raise US $ 220 million, which allowed it to advance in the consolidation of its main markets in Latin America, including, logically, its operations in Argentina.

The competition
Grin will be the first to deploy an electric skateboard rental system in Buenos Aires, but it is likely that other firms will join this fledgling market.

The main threat to the Mexican firm is Maxi Mobility, head of Cabify, which already has its own services in markets such as Mexico and Spain, through its Movo platform.

The company confirmed in early 2019 to iProUP that they see the launch of this segment of their business in Argentina as a concrete probability, although, for now, there is nothing concrete. The same goes for Uber, which in the United States controls Jump, one of the most important players in the market worldwide.

This is explained, above all, by the legal conflicts that he has had uninterrupted since his arrival in the country: currently, he can not even make collections with credit or debit cards.

A market that grows
The growth in the market country of electric skateboards will not be given only by the hand of rental; Currently, there are several companies that sell this type of products in the local area.

AirWheels, which operates in several countries, arrived in Argentina at the beginning of 2017 and has advisory, sales and after-sales services. Its managers say that a large number of units are already sold per month and that it has a network of wholesalers throughout the national territory.

Byron Scooters is another player in this segment. The company started operating in 2018 with the objective of leading a market without a clear dominance of its own products.

In dialogue with iProUP, both highlight that the profile of the customer is marked: about 90% of users buy electric skateboards to go to work in the downtown areas of Palermo, Belgrano, Zona Norte and Puerto Madero.

The average cost is 30,000 pesos in units that have up to 20km autonomy, fast charges of 90 minutes and speeds of around 25km / h.

It is, in short, an ideal transport to move in cities increasingly congested and with a potential growth in sales that, for now, knows no ceiling.

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