Working with a city to tackle bike theft at its source

At a glance

Where: Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel: Florentin, City Hall and Atidim Park
When: August to December 2022, including a three-week public pilot in November
Set-up: 10 smart docks retrofitted onto public racks at three sites

Backed by: EIT Urban Mobility, through the City Raptor 2022 programme
Delivered with: Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality and CityZone, the city’s open innovation lab, with Chen Ofan as local operations partner

The challenge

Tel Aviv set this challenge itself. Through City Raptor, the city reported that a bike or scooter is stolen every 18 minutes, and that theft is the second biggest reason residents give for not using micromobility.

It wanted secure parking that would give riders confidence without building new infrastructure.

Results

105 cyclists signed up to take part With no paid marketing
23 registered riders Target: 20
42 completed locking sessions Target: 40
0 security compromises

Riders who used the docks said they felt more secure than with their own locks.

What we did

Selected by Tel Aviv’s City Raptor 2022 bike-theft challenge, run by CityZone with EIT Urban Mobility, and ran stakeholder interviews with the municipality and local riders.
Retrofitted smart docks onto existing public racks in three neighbourhoods, with no civil works.
Recruited riders through the city’s bicycle-crime focus group and community cycling groups, with municipal and CityZone support.
Ran local support with set response times throughout.

Mosa docks with their chains on two public racks beside a Tel Aviv cycle lane.

The brief

“Every 18 minutes a bicycle or scooter is stolen in Tel Aviv. Theft is ranked as the second most important reason for not using micro mobility.”

CityZoneCity Raptor 2022 challenge brief

What we learned

Demand for theft protection was strong before any marketing: 105 cyclists signed up for a ten-dock pilot. Turning that interest into regular use depended on three things: an app on every phone, a simple first-time experience, and docks where riders already park. Riders also told us the fee model matters, which led to the free-first-period model we now offer.

Recognition

Featured by EIT Urban Mobility as a City Raptor project, with findings presented at the Mobility Tomorrow conference in Tel Aviv.

Built since

Native iOS and Android apps, step-by-step video onboarding, offline digital keys and in-app live support are now standard. Each was proven at scale at the Olympic Park and RHS Bridgewater.