In Summer 2025, a new kind of vehicle appeared on the streets of Montreal. Mulo, Canada’s first self-service cargo bikeshare, hit the road in the Rosemont – La-Petite-Patrie borough, with the mission of helping residents move kids, groceries, furniture and just about anything else.
As Mulo’s software platform, Joyride has a front-row seat to the company’s growth path. We sat down with Mulo co-founders Louis-Phillippe Tessier and Michael Seth Wexler to talk about why cargo bikes matter, which software features have been most essential and what it takes to launch a sustainable mobility service from scratch.
What problem was Mulo created to solve?
Mulo: Our goal was to fill the gap between bicycles and car-sharing. Montréal already has strong options for both, but there was nothing in between—no mode that offered the flexibility of a bike with the cargo capacity of a car.
Why is renting a cargo bike better than owning one?
Mulo: Cargo bikes are expensive and require more storage space than a bike, so even if people want them, it’s not always practical to own one. Mulo solves that. It gives people easy, affordable access to a cargo bike when they need one, without worrying about maintenance, theft or storage.
What makes Mulo different from a typical bike share?
Mulo: People want low-impact transportation options that are still convenient. Our bikes are the IBEX model from Black Iron Horse. They’re electric, three-wheeled bikes with a big front box that fits up to 110 kg of cargo. That means you can carry your pet to the park, bring home a big shopping haul or even help a friend move!
How does Mulo’s bike rental system work?
Mulo: It’s all self-serve. Riders use the Mulo app to find and unlock a cargo bike from one of our partner locations. When the trip is done, they return the bike to the same location and lock it up.
For our first season we have five designated pick-up points. Each one is located at a small business we love—cafés and shops that help ground the service in the neighborhood.
How does Joyride’s shared mobility platform help you run your business?
Mulo: Since we’re introducing a new service to the community, it’s important to us that first-time users—especially those who’ve never ridden a cargo bike—can get started with confidence.
The customizable How to Ride screen in the Rider App enables us to quickly explain each step of reserving the bike, unlocking the smart lock, adjusting the pedal assist, pausing a trip and returning the bike to its designated parking zone.
Riders can access the guide anytime through the app Help Center, and we’ve also added a custom FAQ to answer the most common questions. These tools make onboarding simple and reduce the number of support inquiries we might otherwise receive.
On the operations side, we rely a lot on the map menu to quickly review our bikes in the morning and at night, or when someone is on a trip. We also really like the main analytics menu to get a sense of the total number of users and trips done.
Being able to instantly put the bikes in and out of service is especially useful. We’ve used the Ongoing Trips menu to manually end rides that were not correctly finished, then remotely lock the bike and bill a custom amount to the rider.
How do you keep the cargo bikes secure when not in use?
Mulo: Mulo cargo bikes are equipped with Linka smart horseshoe locks and an integrated chain lock so the bike can be tethered to street furniture. The horseshoe lock immobilizes the bike when parked, while the chain lock gives riders peace of mind if they want to pause their trip for errands or coffee breaks.
Additionally, through the Joyride Dashboard, we can track each bike’s location in real time and view heatmaps that show where users are riding most.
What wins are you most proud of so far?
Mulo: We’ve received very positive feedback from users and great pictures of their use of the bikes. We even had a film crew mount a camera in the box to shoot footage for a documentary.
There are many other smaller wins, such as the total number of users in one month (450) and trips (120), but the best has been the number of organizations reaching out to collaborate with us. It shows the model resonates beyond just riders.
Have there been any unexpected insights since launching?
Mulo: One surprising discovery was that 34% of our trips were over 90 minutes. We didn’t expect people to use the bikes for that long, but it shows just how versatile they are. The average ride duration started at about 1.5 hours in June and increased in July. We’ve also noticed that usage peaks on weekends.
What’s next for Mulo?
Mulo: We’re currently planning our 2026 season and exploring several new opportunities. Over the next few months, we’ll evaluate what makes the most sense for the service and our users. One thing is clear—our goal is to grow the fleet, reach more people and make it even easier for Montrealers to rent a cargo bike.
“We chose Joyride for the ease of use and features that are specifically designed for shared active modes of transport. The app is clean and simple to use, which is important for our customers.”
Louis-Phillippe Tessier, Co-Founder, Mulo
Interested in launching your own cargo bike rental service?
You don’t need to go city-wide to make a big impact. As Mulo’s success shows, all it takes is a clear vision, the right partners and a scalable software platform. Powered by Joyride’s white-label solution, Mulo built a flexible, shared mobility system tailored to their local community.
Whether you’re working with cargo bikes, e-scooters, golf carts or something entirely new, Joyride lightens the load of fleet management and gives you full control over the rider experience.
Want to explore what your fleet could look like? Let’s talk.
