Electric scooter manufacturer Gogoro Inc (睿能創意) yesterday expanded its GoShare electric scooter service to Taipei in head-to-head competition with Wemo Corp (威摩科技) and Hotai Leasing Corp (和運租車), which launched their services three years ago and in March respectively.
Gogoro, headquartered in Taoyuan, has garnered 100,000 registered members for its GoShare services in just 53 days following the debut in Taoyuan on Aug. 29.
Wemo has accumulated 200,000 members in three years.
Photo: Lisa Wang, Taipei Times
“It is a difficult job to achieve that number [100,000],” GoShare head Henry Chiang (姜家煒) told a media briefing in Taipei. “We were surprised that demand was so strong and it greatly exceeded our expectations.”
Chiang was a former executive of bicycle-sharing company oBike.
Gogoro is to deploy 1,000 light-weight Gogoro Viva scooters across Taipei and add 3,000 more by the end of this year, he said.
“We want to help people complete their last-mile commute from MRT and bus stations to their homes or work,” Chiang said.
GoShare users can pick up vehicles from public parking spaces and return them to parking lots without paying parking fees.
During the three-day promotion period, GoShare users do not have to pay for the first 15 minutes, while it costs NT$2.5 per minute after that, the same pricing scheme as Wemo.
As Wemo and Hotai Leasing have obtained a discount on parking fees through the Taipei City Government’s “3U” — YouBike, U-Motor and U-Car — project, Gogoro said it would seek to collaborate with the city government as well.
While Gogoro is expanding its vehicle-sharing business northward, Wemo is moving south, launching its sharing services in Kaohsiung yesterday after deploying 3,000 electric scooters in Taipei and New Taipei City.
In the initial stage, Wemo plans to deploy 300 electric scooters in populous areas of Kaohsiung, including Zuoying (左營), Nanzih (楠梓) and Cianjhen (前鎮) districts, before increasing the number to 5,000 vehicles within three years, the company said.
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