The short version.
60-second readFor a solo 2 km trip: walking ≈ 25 minutes, free. Bus ≈ 15–25 minutes door-to-door for ~5 MAD - most of it walking to the stop and waiting. Petit taxi ≈ 8–12 minutes for ~10–15 MAD, if one is free when you need it. Shared scooter ≈ 7–9 minutes for ~10 MAD (2 MAD unlock + 1 MAD/min), or effectively less on a pass. The scooter wins on predictability: no waiting for a vehicle, no schedule, no negotiation.
Four ways across campus.
Door to door, 2 kmOn a pass the scooter’s marginal cost collapses: the 149 MAD monthly pass includes 45 minutes a day - five or six typical trips - so each ride is effectively pre-paid. Ride twice a day and the pass beats even the bus per trip. The pricing page has the full math.
Kerb-to-Class time.
Measure the whole tripKerb-to-Class time = acquisition + ride + arrival. Acquisition is everything before you move: walking to a stop or hub, waiting, hailing, unlocking. Arrival is everything after: parking, walking the last stretch. Vehicle speed only governs the middle - which is why a 60 km/h taxi can lose, door to door, to a 20 km/h scooter that was already waiting outside.
K2C is the number we design the network around. It is why hubs sit at building entrances rather than in one big depot, and why fleet rebalancing chases acquisition time rather than raw scooter counts. A hundred scooters in the wrong corner of campus is a worse network than sixty in the right doorways.
It is also the honest way to compare commutes anywhere: time the whole journey three days running, kerb to class, and the winner is usually not the fastest vehicle - it is the one with the smallest overhead.
The honest verdict.
No mode wins everything- Walking wins under one kilometre, in good weather, with company. No overhead can beat zero overhead on short hops.
- The bus wins for long cross-city trips on its route, for groups, and for anyone riding daily on a student travel card.
- The petit taxi wins in heavy rain, with luggage, late at night beyond the fleet zone, and for door-to-door trips of five kilometres and up.
- The scooter wins the middle: solo trips of one to three kilometres, on a schedule, in the heat - the exact shape of most campus days.
We build for that middle and happily concede the rest. A transport network is healthiest when each mode does what it is best at - and your wallet notices when you match the trip to the mode instead of defaulting to one.
Riders also ask.
Straight answersHow much does a 2 km Elyra ride cost?
About 10 MAD on the balance card: 2 MAD unlock plus roughly 7–8 minutes at 1 MAD per minute, billed per second. On a weekly (49 MAD) or monthly (149 MAD) pass the ride draws from included daily minutes instead, so the marginal cost is zero. There is never a surge multiplier.
Is a shared scooter cheaper than a petit taxi?
For short solo trips, usually - a 2 km scooter ride costs about 10 MAD versus 10–15 MAD by taxi, and passes push the scooter cost far lower for daily riders. Taxis win on longer trips, in storms, and with luggage or passengers.
What is Kerb-to-Class time?
A door-to-door commute metric: acquisition time (reaching and starting a vehicle) plus ride time plus arrival time (parking and the final walk). It exposes why the fastest vehicle often isn’t the fastest journey - overhead, not top speed, decides short trips.
Is riding faster than walking even for short trips?
Above roughly 700–800 metres, yes, once unlock time is counted. Below that, walking is usually quicker door to door - and we’d honestly rather you walk it. The scooter’s sweet spot is one to three kilometres.
Do passes make sense for occasional riders?
No - and that’s by design. Ride fewer than about ten trips a week and the balance card is cheaper. Passes pay off for daily riders: the monthly pass covers 45 minutes a day, which is five or six typical campus trips.