The Landscape of Shared Mobility in Madrid 2024

Shared mobility has seen steady growth in recent years, transforming how we navigate our cities and becoming an essential part of urban life. Madrid is a leading city in this field, with increasing numbers of people using electric scooters (scootersharing), shared cars (carsharing), and electric bicycles (bikesharing) for their daily commutes. In 2024, Madrid is at the forefront of the mobility revolution, offering various options to its residents. This article explores the most popular shared mobility modes: ridehailing, carsharing, bikesharing, motosharing, and scootersharing.

What is Ridehailing?

This has become a very popular and well-known service. Ridehailing is a service that allows users to request a car ride from one point to another via a mobile app. The app connects the drivers with the users, who can see the available cars and choose the best vehicle for their needs. Once the user has selected a vehicle, the driver will pick them up at the agreed location and take them to their specified destination. The user specifies the destination when requesting the vehicle, so the driver knows the destination in advance, making the transaction much easier and more efficient.

What is Carsharing?

Carsharing is a system that involves renting vehicles for short periods of time, by minutes or hours. Users can access a fleet of vehicles distributed within a specific area through a mobile app, choose which vehicle is closest to their position and, once they reach their destination, they can park it wherever is most convenient, as long as it is within the parking area allowed by the provider. This makes carsharing a very flexible transportation mode, it is commonly used for commuting between work and home.

The concept of carsharing has been previously explored on our blog. If you want to know more about it, here is an article on how it compares to other carsharing modalities available on the market.

What is Bikesharing?

Bikesharing, or shared bicycles, allows users to rent bicycles distributed at stations throughout the city. Through a mobile app or a membership card, users can unlock a bike, use it for their trips, and then return it to another nearby station. This option is popular in central and well-connected neighborhoods, and where the congregation of people is greater. In a city as large as Madrid, where streets can stretch for kilometers, bikesharing is an ideal provider of a quick and effortless alternative to walking and perfect at complementing public transportation like the subway.

What is Motosharing?

Motosharing offers users short-term motorcycles for rent. Similar to carsharing, but with motorcycles instead of cars, users can locate, unlock, and use available motorcycles for their trips via a mobile app and then park them safely in one of the designated areas. This alternative is excellent for those who prefer two-wheeled transportation or a more agile way to navigate the city.

What is Scootersharing?

Scootersharing are shared electric scooters available for rent at convenient locations in the city through a mobile app. Users can locate, unlock, and use the scooters for their trips and then park them safely in permitted areas afterward. It is a service similar to bikesharing, but with scooters.

Introduced in Madrid in 2018, scootersharing quickly gained popularity. It also generated much controversy due to the limited legal control over this relatively new mode of transport. After an initial boom, scooters temporarily disappeared before returning in a more controlled manner to the city after some regulatory adjustments.

Mobility Companies in Madrid 2024

Madrid is witnessing the proliferation of alternative transportation options, ranging from ridehailing apps to electric scooters. The following graph helps us understand the current market distribution in Madrid, showcasing the companies that offer ridehailing, carsharing, bikesharing, motosharing, and scootersharing services.

Ridehailing Companies

The two most popular ridehailing companies and leaders on the market are undoubtedly Uber and Cabify. However, Bolt vehicles are becoming more common, and both Freenow and Sixt are well-established companies in Madrid's shared mobility market.

Carsharing Companies

ZITY, wible, GoTo, Free2Move/Sharenow, and Voltio dominate the carsharing sector with Guppy being the less known. Voltio uses World Wide Mobility's technology to manage its fleet, including both our car-sharing software and our car-sharing hardware. Learn more about our most recent success story: Carshairng voltio by mutua.

Discover more about free-floating software and what it offers to carsharing in this article.

Bikesharing Companies

Three companies lead the bikesharing market: TIER, lime, and dott. However, one of the most popular options is the city’s public bicycle rental system, bicimad.

Motosharing Companies

Motosharing is also offered by three companies: Cabify, which together with ridehailing establishes itself as a leader in two shared mobility modes; cooltra, a company with locations in several European cities; and acciona, one of the biggest global Spanish groups.

Scootersharing Companies

Finally, we have the companies that have taken over the electric scooter market in Madrid by having secured authorization from the city council to set up their business in the city: TIER, lime, and dott. The same three companies that offer bikesharing, except for bicimad, and lead the market not only in Madrid, but in many cities worldwide.

Shared Mobility in the Future and its Challenges

Shared mobility is here to stay, transforming urban transportation and offering new opportunities for connectivity and sustainability. Although the growth of the shared mobility market is undeniable, it also faces challenges such as urban congestion, road safety, and sustainability. Collaboration among companies, regulators, and society is essential for the sector's continued development, as well as for building more habitable and accessible cities.