Incapable In Amsterdam? Call An Emission-Free Electric Scooter Taxi!

December 7, 2012

Amsterdam in the Netherlands is known for many things–canals, beautiful architecture, and a relaxed attitude to drugs and carnal pleasures.

It’s also, as it happens, an excellent city to explore on two wheels. Not only are there few hills to contend with, but Amsterdam is very much geared towards cyclists, as far as getting around is concerned.

Now, there’s another option–on the back of a Hopper.

You might not understand much of the video above (discovered via Treehugger), but it’s easy to get the idea–the Hopper is a taxi service, and it uses electric scooters.

In busy European cities like Amsterdam, it could prove one of the quickest ways of getting around–and one of the cleanest, unless you prefer to pedal yourself.

Interested parties can flag down a hopper on the street, order via a phone number, book via the Hopper website, or download an App, available soon.

It’s also incredibly cheap–there’s a flat rate of 2.50 Euros per ride, or only $3.22 at current exchange rates.

A Hopper certainly seems like a safer way of getting around than using the Beer Bike, though we expect Hopper has some regulations on how inebriated passengers can be…

http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1080969_incapable-in-amsterdam-call-an-emission-free-electric-scooter-taxi

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Hopper electric scooter taxi launches service in Amsterdam

December 6, 2012

Amsterdam, one of the most carefree cities, has now begun to think more seriously about going green. The city is now hatching stern plans for better transportation with a commitment to environment by launching an electric-scooter taxi service called Hopper.

Amsterdam now hugs the eco-friendly taxi service with the aim of giving people a cheaper and emission-free form of transportation.

Hopper scooters can provide easier and quicker journey than a taxi car service as they can move freely in and out of the hectic traffic. The bike-friendly city now brings out a greener and faster way to hang around the city.

You have to pay EUR 2.50 for one ride as long as it is within the city limits. The order will be received through a telephone, smartphone app or website. The company officials have spend five longs years to realize this dream and it started service last month.

The silky lime green colored scooters will soon move around inRotterdam,The HagueandUtrechtas well. According to Bikes in the Fast Lane, the scooters inAmsterdamare limited to 25 km/h (about 15 mph), so that the riders can travel around without wearing helmets.

The electric scooters are expected to create 68 percent less carbon emissions than an ordinary moped scooter. The service will be provided from 8 am to 8 pm Monday–Friday.

http://www.greenpacks.org/2012/12/06/hopper-electric-scooter-taxi-service-launches-in-amsterdam/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Greenpacks+(Greenpacks.org)

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Hop on a Hopper!

December 4, 2012

If you’re moving around Amsterdam solo and without too much luggage, a bike is probably your best bet, as Amsterdam is widely considered to be one of the most bike-friendly cities in the world. But if for some reason you can’t go that route and don’t want to use a regular cab, the Hopper taxi might be the perfect thing for you.

As long as you don’t mind being kind of close to the driver, this electric scooter taxi company probably offers the fastest and greenest way to get around the city.

Interested? Here’s how it works:

There are 4 ways to book a Hopper taxi:

1. You can flag a Hopper on the street.
2. Order a Hopper via 0900-8890.
3. Via this website, you can book a Hopper by filling out an order form.
4. Use the mobile Hopper App (available soon).

You are picked up at the location of your choice and dropped off at your final destination. The flat rate is € 2,50 per ride and you can pay by cash card or by cash.

http://www.treehugger.com/cars/going-amsterdam-check-out-their-electric-scooter-taxis.html

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Electric scooters provide a green taxi service in Amsterdam

December 4, 2012

Dutch company Hopper has introduced an eco-friendly taxi service to the streets of Amsterdam that uses electric scooters rather than cars.

We’ve previously seen green taxi services, including cab4one, which uses mini cars that only transport one passenger to keep carbon emissions down. Now, however, Dutch company Hopper has introduced an eco-friendly taxi service to the streets of Amsterdam that uses electric scooters rather than cars.Providing a cheap and environmentally-friendly form of transportation, Hopper scooters are intended to be quicker than a taxi car service, as they can weave in and out of stationary traffic to decrease waiting times. Every ride has a flat rate of EUR 2.50 regardless of the distance, although the service only runs in the city centre and Zuidas WTC/RAI areas of Amsterdam.

The company claims that electric scooters produce 68 percent less carbon emissions than a traditional moped scooter. The scooters can be flagged down in the street, booked over the telephone or via the website and are operational from 8am till 8pm Monday–Friday.

The service is currently only running in Amsterdam, but the founders have plans to extend it to The Hague, Rotterdam and Utrecht within the next six months – transportation entrepreneurs, one to bring to your city?

Website: www.myhopper.nl
Contact: www.myhopper.nl/contact

http://www.springwise.com/transportation/electric-scooters-provide-taxi-service-amsterdam/

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Hopper, the new electric scooter taxi

November 21, 2012

Yes, the Dutch are still flying, or at least that’s the first thing to come in mind when thinking about Hopper, the first electric scooter taxi service in Amsterdam, Holland.

The Hopper scooters can be flagged in the street, called via phone, website and a dedicated smartphone/tablet app will soon be ready. So if you’re in central Amsterdam and need a quick ride from A to B, hop on a Hopper scooter and there you go!

There are so many things we simply love about this idea, and the electric bikes are only the top layer of the cake. Hopper scooters are limited to 25 km/h (15.5 mph) and the Dutch law does not require wearing a helmet up to this speed. This means you simply get on the bike and scuttle off. No helmets to carry around and so much convenience.

Then comes the small luggage compartment on each machine. You can load your small shopping bag in the trunk and that’s all, you’re free to enjoy the ride. Finally it the price: €2,5 ($3,2) for any route, as long as it’s in central Amsterdam. You can pay with cash or credit card and you just know nobody will try to scam you. Way to go, Amsterdam, way to go!

http://www.autoevolution.com/news/hopper-the-dutch-electric-scooter-taxi-52113.html

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Hopper scooter taxis offer cheap ride through Amsterdam

October 25, 2012

Those in need of a quick ride within Amsterdam Centrum and Zuid now have the option of traveling by scooter, because Hopper just introduced a fleet of 100 electric scooter taxis.

A Hopper ride through the centre of Amsterdam costs just 2,50 euros and is payable via cash, PIN pass, or with a Hopper card. The scooters are in service from 8am till 8pm. You can flag one down on the street or order one by calling 0900-8890 or placing an order via their website, and they will soon offer a smartphone app.

Hopper hopes its green and eco-friendly scooters will compete with the existing public transportation options in Amsterdam, and would like to expand to Rotterdam, The Hague, and Utrecht within the next six months. Eventually the scooters will also be available in another 34 medium-sized municipalities.

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Electric scooter taxi

October 18, 2012

Six years back Dutchman Ruben Beugels was with an Amsterdam tram that stopped working, departing him stuck within an out-of-the way in which place, and late to have an appointment as he could not rapidly find another way of transport. “I had been very frustrated at being late, also it ended up being which i thought, hey a scooter would have the ability to get me to my meeting promptly,Inch stated Beugels, founding father of Hopper, Europe’s first electric taxi scooter service, that will debut in Amsterdam on Monday.

Amsterdam’s 17th Century waterways and cobbled roads make driving cars, including taxis, within the center from the city frequently difficult and time intensive because of unloading trucks, congestion or obstacles, which is among the reasons a lot of Amsterdamers would rather use bicycles inside the city center.

Nederlander trains and buses, including trams, trains and, is usually considered reliable and efficient, however these services, which span out just like a fan in the primary central stop reaching towards the city’s edge, aren’t available through the earliest areas of Amsterdam’s city center, which Beugels hopes will end up Hopper’s new turf.

Beugels, who calls the scooters a “new type of trains and buses,” states they’ll help bridge the space between using trains and buses and dealing with one last destination, or that last km, to the doorstep.

The scooters are high-tech, attired with navigation and monitoring systems through the Nederlander firm TomTom along with a Samsung smartphone that is locked in to the dash along with a tablet around the back, which is often used for digital advertising.

Beugels needs the glossy lime eco-friendly coloured scooters will end up a metropolitan fixture in Amsterdam and finally within the three other greatest Nederlander metropolitan areas such as the Hague, Rotterdam and Utrecht, where Hopper scooters is going to be folded out throughout 2013.

The electrical scooters drive in a maximum speed of 25 km/h and may go 130 km on the fully billed battery power. Hopper’s primary garage, replete with 100 scooters to begin, crouches between TomTom HQ and Amsterdam’s central stop.

http://electric-scooter-plan.blogspot.nl/2012/10/electric-scooter-taxi.html

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Green taxi service in Amsterdam

October 15, 2012

Thinking about riding a bike in Amsterdam? A tip from the bruised and wise. Don’t drink and pedal! And if you do, then watch out for the tram lines.

Amsterdam is more like a village than a city and while public transport is there, most people tend to cycle. Which is all very well if you are used to riding on the left hand side of the road and don’t have a few beers tucked away inside you after a long cafe lunch! The friendly local friend who insisted we were good to go cycles off in the style of a true professional leaving me open mouthed in admiration and cycling madly to catch up. Just as I managed to catch up with her tail wind, she turned and said, ” I forgot to tell you about the tram lines! Don’t get your wheel in one of those or you’re screwed.”

Which is kind of like saying “Don’t think Pink Elephants” I screamed at her rapidly disappearing backside. Then I effortlessly inserted the front wheel of my cycle into the tram line and executed a spectacular flip that only ever really happens in cartoons. I left the bike at the nearest pub and walked home that night swearing off cycling in Amsterdam for every and a day and spent the rest of my time in that fair city walking everywhere and wishing I could hire a scooter.

Now getting around the city is a green dream with the introduction of the Hopper Electric Scooter Taxi’s. The taxis are all scooters instead of cars. You can flag them down on the street, phone them and pretty soon you will be able to use a mobile app (keep up with hopcab Amsterdam!) or book a ride through their website.

The electric scooters drive at a maximum speed of 25 km/h and can go 130 km on a fully charged electric battery. You can find Hopper’s main garage between TomTom HQ and Amsterdam’s central train station.

http://blog.roadhop.com/post/33602073136/green-taxi-service-in-amsterdam-hopper

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Let’s go Dutch!

October 13, 2012

So there’s a relatively new ‘flexible public transportation’ system in Amsterdam, known as the “Hopper Program”. It’s actually a network of electric taxis, but with a twist – instead of regular cabs the locals hail electric scooters. Yup. Scooters.

Other than the possible oddness of the vehicle type, the basics are otherwise the same as say, London. Just stick your hand up in the street and catch a ride on a scooter (needless to say, they’re all zero-emission and shamelessly cute, and cleverly the perfect solution for Amsterdam’s windy little streets.) Or, again like London, you can phone up or use a mobile app to get one, making them a blend of black cab and minicab.

Each trip costs the same, just €2.50 (so very unlike London then!), a flat fee which doesn’t changes no matter the destination or duration.

Say what?!

It was obviously only a matter of time before someone came up with this really. By combining zero emmissions with supreme practicality, this idea is a bit of a no-brainer, being environmentally friendly, hugely sustainable, easily maintained (electric scooters require much less maintenance than regular petrol ones) and of course having the potential for completely clean power from source to wheel. This last point is perhaps the most exciting, in much the same way that California’s Tesla has generated much excitement with their recently initiated ‘Supercharger’ solar-powered charging station network.

But if you’re looking for reasons why this is a great idea there’s even more. Lets’ consider the location of this, the world’s first electric scooter taxi network. In Europe emissions standards are majorly more relaxed for scooter than for automobiles. But scooters are much more popular in European cities than in the United States, meaning that this regulatory laxness is ultimately leading to a lot more pollution. Which means that by replacing (even in some small way at first) internal combustion engine 2-wheelers with electric scooters can only serve to reduce particulate emissions by a considerable margin. Win one.

Win two becomes apparent when you check out the actual streetscape these little vehicles will be ferrying folk around in. Sure the streets of Amsterdam are lovely, but they’re very twisty, usually narrow and invariably tricky to navigate in a full-sized car. Solution? Replace as many 4-wheelers as possible with diminutive scooters.

More to come…

This innovative startup, Hopper, is planning to roll out successive electric scooter fleets elsewhere in their native Holland, namely The Hague, Rotterdam and Utrecht by mid-2013. Of course there will be obstacles to overcome (not least that often poor Northern European weather) but we feel this idea has great potential. Good luck to them.

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Amsterdam goes green with electric scooter taxi’s

October 10, 2012

New two-wheeled taxi fleet takes to the cobbled streets

Amsterdam is a beautiful city. It’s also a traffic nightmare and therefore full of particulate emissions, and not happy about any of that. Part of the plan to reduce its emissions is the introduction of Hopper electric scooters.

The Hopper program is meant to be very flexible public transportation. In practice, it’s a network of electric taxis, except that the taxis are all scooters instead of cars (this is actually a good idea considering Amsterdam’s narrow, twisty roads).

According to Hopper’s website, you can catch a ride on one of the zero-emission, super-cute scooters by flagging one down on the street, by calling for a ride, by booking a ride on the website, or by using their (yet to come) mobile app

The electric scooters drive at a maximum speed of 25 km/h and can go 130 km on a fully charged electric battery. Hopper’s main garage, replete with 100 scooters to start, crouches between TomTom HQ and Amsterdam’s central train station.

Six years since he was left stranded by the tram, the man behind Hopper, Reuben Beugels, cobbled together a consortium of partners, distributors and sponsors from both private and public sectors, including the city of Amsterdam, the National railway and sustainable bank Triodos, which provided half of the financing.

“Everything we finance has to contribute, one way or another, to a better quality of life because we think that profit should not come at the expense of the world’s most pressing problems, which is why we finance organic farming, sustainable buildings, arts and culture, and renewable energy schemes,” said Maarten Thijs from Triodos.

“This particular loan customer (Hopper) has a very clever idea, but it’s also very simple and sophisticated, which is why we like it,” said Thijs.

Each ride is a flat rate of just € 2.50 — regardless of where you go or how long it takes.

The scooters are high-tech, kitted out with navigation and tracking systems by the Dutch firm TomTom (TOM2.AS) and a Samsung (005930.KS) smartphone which is locked into the dash and a tablet on the back, which is used for digital advertising.

Beugels expects the glossy lime green coloured scooters will become an urban fixture in Amsterdam and eventually in the three other biggest Dutch cities including The Hague, Rotterdam and Utrecht, where Hopper scooters will be rolled out throughout 2013. , Even though inclement weather will sometimes make them a less than comfortable choice, the idea af green scooter taxis is pretty cool (not to say freezing on occasion!).

http://www.totemtourism.com/1/post/2012/10/amsterdam-goes-green-with-electric-scooter-taxis.html

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Archive for category: in the media

Incapable In Amsterdam? Call An Emission-Free Electric Scooter Taxi!

Hopper electric scooter taxi launches service in Amsterdam

Hop on a Hopper!

Electric scooters provide a green taxi service in Amsterdam

Hopper, the new electric scooter taxi

Hopper scooter taxis offer cheap ride through Amsterdam

Electric scooter taxi

Green taxi service in Amsterdam

Let’s go Dutch!

Amsterdam goes green with electric scooter taxi’s

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