Free app provides safer micromobility-specific GPS navigation for e-bikes and scooters

As someone who travels almost entirely by two-wheeled electric vehicles, I’ve found that major GPS navigation apps can sometimes be just as precarious as they are helpful. Usually intended for cars, most GPS navigation apps can occasionally send us micromobility users onto unfriendly streets. But now ScootRoute is solving that problem with a highly customizable navigation app designed specifically to help riders of e-bikes, e-scooters, and other micromobility devices stick to safer roads.

ScootRoute aims to make micromobility safer

ScootRoute works in cities and suburbs, letting riders select specific perimeters to receive customized turn-by-turn GPS directions.

Factors such as hill-climbing tolerance, traffic, bike lane availability, road type, and speed limits can be adjusted by the user, according to their preferences.

An electric mountain bike rider might want to include the option for shortcuts across off-road trails, while a scooter rider will likely prefer sticking to streets with bike lanes or low speed limits.

The app also uses three different mapping technologies and includes voice-based turn-by-turn navigation so riders don’t have to look down at their phone while navigating. Commonly used routes can also be saved to access quickly in the future.

ScootRoute is the brainchild of Meghan Braley, a Vespa rider who wanted to find a better way to help smaller vehicles navigate cities and suburbs more safely. She was so passionate about the idea that she left her job at a Fortune 500 company in order to pursue her goal of developing the app.

Being a Vespa rider for more than 10 years, commuting with endless traffic, sporadic bike lanes and confusing signals is frustrating. Popular navigation apps would route me on to highways and off-road bike trails, and I couldn’t find the best and safest streets to get to my destination. Fully committing to the launch of ScootRoute, I left my senior level position at a fintech company, partnered with a local development shop focused on startups and created ScootRoute™, a navigation app designed exclusively for the growing micro-mobility market.

ScootRoute is available as a free download for both Android and Apple iOS devices.

Electrek’s Take

I love this idea and I think it could be perfect for a lot of riders out there.

When I’m on my electric motorcycles, I can stick with Waze or Google Maps.

But when I switch to my e-bike, e-scooters, e-skateboards, or other micromobility devices, I always have to take GPS directions as a suggestion. Waze and Google Maps both give me the option to avoid interstates, which is helpful, but I never know if I’m being routed onto a cute little 20 mph avenue with bike lanes or a 45 mph local highway with zero shoulder.

Bicycle or walking directions on Google Maps can also be useful, but they often route me onto trails that I can’t take with my scooters or skateboards, meaning I have to backtrack and find another way.

So a dedicated app designed for riders like me that can safely route to paths that are appropriate for my different micromobility vehicles sounds like an awesome idea to me!