Introduction
My name is Rufaro Mundangepfupfu. I am a Marketing major with a Computer Science background and a general interest in the world of tomorrow. I came upon research through a culmination of these interests, which led me to seek the knowledge I desired for myself. My research began through a business lens, as I had found a business idea I wished to pursue in the field of shared transportation, shared micromobility to be exact. Thus, I began my exploration through a self-directed market research project. My initial venture into the world of research quickly led me to realize that I would need guidance in my knowledge seeking, as there wasn’t much of a make to conduct research on.
I re-evaluated the goals of my research and the project tied to it at the time. In doing so, I decided to take a more academic approach and engage in research formally with the support of Thompson Rivers University (TRU). I have been lucky enough to have been mentored throughout my exploration by Dr. Zubair Raja, a finance professor here at TRU. His assistance has helped me learn, understand, and apply the research method in four separate projects that have all built upon each other. Together, we have been in contact with subject matter experts, industry leaders, as well as city officials.
We started by conducting a feasibility study in Kamloops on the adoption of micromobility, expanded our scope to cover British Columbia, and are now looking beyond solely transportation into the potential to advance smart city planning and sustainable transportation in Canada as a whole. Our work began at the end of 2023 and is still ongoing in 2025. In this time, we have run surveys, analyzed data from various sources, and engaged in knowledge mobilization at five academic events, with plans to make it six by the end of August 2025.