Gogoro, the leading electric-motorcycle manufacturer in Taiwan, has officially launched its public ride service, dubbed GoShare, in Taipei on Oct. 21, following a test run in Taoyuan in August.
The company joins Wemo and iRent, which have been offering similar services in Taipei for some time. Gogoro intends to enhance its overall brand exposure via the service.
With its history of around two years, the public e-scooter transportation services in Taiwan have enabled numerous bike users to borrow and return electric motorcycles via their smartphone apps; they have become an increasingly popular and convenient short-distance transportation service for a growing number of people.
The public transportation app by Gogoro could be used by Taiwan’s bike users to locate as many as 60 Gogoro motorcycles in Taipei. The company has been actively encouraging bike users to ride the leased motorcycles from Taoyuan to Taipei with the incentive of free rental to spare itself the need to transport the vehicles to the customers.
At present, only the Gogoro 2 models are expected to be available for the GoShare services. The new Gogoro VIVA model, which is known to be a lot lighter and smaller than the traditional model, will be available in Taipei in the near future.
The identifications of all of the GoShare users will be verified by Gogoro’s advanced facial recognition technology. The registration procedures for the Face ID system is only expected to take three to five minutes, which is a lot faster than the procedures of the other services.
Despite its popularity, the GoShare service will still face a lot of fierce competition within Taiwans public transportation market. Its main rivals, which are expected to be Wemo and iRent, are already planning to boost the total numbers of their motorcycles for lease to 8,000 and 3,000, respectively, by the end of the year.
Gogoro is reportedly planning to deploy up to 1,000 bikes for the service at the beginning, which is similar to the initial number in Taoyuan.
At present, the customers of Wemo and iRent are all required to take a photo of the leased motorcycles upon borrowing and return to ascertain the responsibility for potential damages. In order to streamline the procedure, GoShare will spare its customers of such requirements.
(Image: TechNews)
