A case of steps forward and backward in this newsletter as we reflect on the Government’s promise to consult on e-scooter legislation (but its failure to bring forward that legislation); our latest car club annual report (but the ongoing need to fill the gap left by Zipcar) and welcome new guidance from Homes England on mobility hubs (but the lack of a Government programme or policy on them). I found this forward/backward point emerging as a theme when I was asked to write about shared transport in communities for the fascinating Infuze project.
Let me close on the whole positive of our first-ever pop-up hubs project in England, also the first such to target people not in education, employment or training. We are delighted to be delivering this with the partners detailed below and grateful to Active Travel England for the funding with which to do it.
Keep in touch,
Richard Dilks
Chief Executive, CoMoUK
News & insights 🗞️
The King’s Speech – a consolation prize
Our open letter to the Prime Minister and key ministers calling on the Government to push ahead with its own spoken intention of legislating to create a permanent legal standing for e-scooters (and potentially many other useful mobility devices, in particular for disabled people and for sustainable logistics) attracted a wide range of signatories.
Unfortunately, it once again fell on deaf ears in the sense that there was no such legislation in the King’s Speech. I did however receive a letter from Transport Minister Simon Lightwood MP which committed the Government – for the first time – to consult on options on all this ahead of finding Parliamentary time for legislation in the future. This is not the step we need to see, but it is a welcome step in the right direction.
Welcome report on electric vehicle charging infrastructure
Clean Cities has produced From Plan to Plug, a step-by-step guide to cities looking to deploy such infrastructure. What is different about this one – and so very welcome to see – is that it has a well-thought out set of points about the need and desirability of focusing on shared mobility’s charging needs as part of this.
It is well worth a read and this sort of approach is very much what we have been advocating for in the UK – and will continue to do so.
First pop-up hubs in England
CoMoUK is delighted to have been awarded a grant from the first-ever round of Active Travel England’s Innovation Fund.
This is for pop-up hubs in areas of multiple deprivation in Nottingham with in-depth co-working with Nottingham City Council, cycling charity RideWise and shared micromobility provider and accredited CoMoUK operator member Lime.
The project will place the mobile hublet in 4 locations for 6 weeks each. A range of active travel activities will be offered to residents with a special focus on supporting those not in education, employment or training. RideWise, alongside other local charities, will support the delivery of: led rides; led walks; free bike fixing sessions; cycle training; and “Build a bike” taster sessions. Lime will also provide free rides, helmets and help to introduce new riders to their scheme. You can read more about the first hub here.
The 2025 CoMoUK car club annual report is out!
The result of much hard work is now there for general consumption: the latest in our near two-decade-long research run of annual reports into how car club vehicles are used, by whom, when and the impacts all that has on their other travel behaviours.
It should be noted that the research was conducted almost entirely before Zipcar announced it was considering leaving the UK market. We will not be able to conduct a full national survey again until later this year. However, we are working on a piece of research and analysis with ex-Zipcar users and will be publishing that in coming weeks together with fresh shared vehicle numbers for London.
CoMoUK at Shared Mobility Rocks
This year’s version of the most unconventional shared mobility event, Shared Mobility Rocks, took place in on 5 May in Vienna. CoMoUK was represented by our Head of Consultancy and Research, Patrick Utz, who returned to his native Austria to share success stories and ongoing challenges in making shared micromobility more inclusive.
Patrick presented findings from two CoMoUK projects from 2024 and 2025 on disabled people’s use of shared bikes and e-scooters. Patrick’s presentation was embedded in the session Break through Mobility Barriers, where colleagues from Belgium and Austria also shared insights on promoting and facilitating car club use in low-income areas from Trui Notebart from Way to Go, and on how different age groups and genders are represented in transport planning from Claudia Falkinger from Point&.
Patrick enjoyed the many opportunities to learn from shared mobility experts from across Europe and is looking forward to including lessons from best practice examples in his research and consultancy work in the UK. If you would like to pick Patrick’s brain about what you can learn for your organisation, please reach out at patrick@como.org.uk.
New: mobility hubs guidance from Homes England
We welcome this new mobility hubs guidance from the Government’s housing agency Homes England. We see it as important to have documents such as this from Government to help define and promote mobility hubs.
The definitions fit closely with our own and we are pleased to see both our guidance and accreditation standard referred to at various points.
We hope this guidance has impact. More broadly we continue to pursue the mobility hubs agenda with governments across the UK as well as promoting them as important components in a sustainable transport centred planning system.
If you are working in this area but not already part of our mobility hub meetings or would like to talk, do please get in touch.
Letter to the PM on transport and energy resilience
Highlights of the letter’s calls on Government are to set a modal shift target; establish a national programme of mobility hubs; invest in and electrify public transport.
Our Chief Executive Richard Dilks commented that “For far too long, the Government has failed to fully recognise the ability of shared transport to cut both emissions and people’s living costs. The recent Better Connected transport strategy is a step in the right direction, but there are huge opportunities to go further and protect households from volatile fuel prices. Expanding options like car clubs and shared bikes would not just benefit regular users, it would also provide a major boost for public transport and active travel. Shared transport can play a key role in creating a truly integrated, affordable and resilient transport network for everyone.”
New members 📇
Co-oto
Co-oto is a mobile app that handles bookings, mileage and cost splitting for families, roommates, neighbours and small teams sharing their own personal cars.
Shared transport user quote of the month:
"We don’t own a car and don’t really want to at present, but being outdoors in more remote locations is important to us as a family. Since many of these places are either unreachable or difficult to reach with public transit, being members of a car club allow us to do this."
Female user from Glasgow, 25-34, Annual Car Club Report 2025
