The Micro-Mobility Revolution: The Introduction and Adoption of Electric Scooters in the United States

Since the introduction of private ride-hailing services (e.g., Uber, Lyft) in 2011 and 2012, the U.S. transportation ecosystem has seen a wave of significant investment in mobility services and solutions. Transportation planning and policymaking in the age of new mobility services is a challenging endeavor given the current pace of change. Over the past decade, there has been limited information and data on the adoption and use of new mobility services available to cities, making it more difficult for the public sector to develop data-driven policies and transportation plans. The goal of this paper is to share new findings on the adoption, utilization, and impacts of private mobility services. This study presents new data and findings on the adoption and early perceptions of shared electric scooters (e-scooters), which experienced a rapid rate of private investment, funding significant service launches in cities across the United States in 2017 and 2018. A large-scale survey of eleven major cities with statistically representative sampling was conducted to assess the adoption, use, and perceptions of new mobility services, including electric scooter sharing. The data suggests that the majority of people in major metropolitan areas primarily perceive shared electric scooters positively, with slightly greater support for the introduction of these services among women and lower-income populations. As compared with prior docked bikesharing services, shared electric scooters currently have achieved greater gender parity, as measured by the ratio of women and men who have used these services.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ADB40 Standing Committee on Transportation Demand Forecasting.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  ,    
• Authors:
  • Clewlow, Regina R
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 98th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2019-1-13 to 2019-1-17
• Date: 2019

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; References;
• Pagination: 13p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Demand responsive transportation; Electric vehicles; Gender; Mobility; Scooters; Surveys; Urban areas; Vehicle sharing
• Geographic Terms: United States
• Subject Areas: Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01697535
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 19-03991
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Mar 1 2019 3:51PM