The Growing Popularity of E-Scooters
Electric scooters, also known as e-scooters, have gained tremendous popularity over the past few years. These dockless scooters, which can be located and unlocked via smartphone apps, began appearing in major cities around 2017. Rental companies like Lime, Bird, and Spin dropped thousands of scooters onto city streets seemingly overnight. Riders have embraced e-scooters as a convenient option for short trips around dense urban areas. According to one estimate, over 38.5 million trips were taken on shared e-scooters in 2018 alone across the U.S. and Europe. The rising popularity of e-scooters has been driven by their ease of use, low per-ride cost compared to other modes of transport, and ability to navigate dense urban environments faster than walking or biking.
Impact on Transportation Systems
The widespread adoption of shared E-Scooters has significantly impacted urban transportation systems. For one, they are providing a popular micro-mobility option that bridges the gap between walking and public transit. In surveys, nearly half of e-scooter riders report replacing car trips less than 2 miles with scooter rides. This reduces automobile traffic and congestion in dense cities. E-scooters are also complementing public transit by enabling first-and last-mile connections. Many transit agencies have embraced dockless scooters and bikes as a way to expand the reach of their systems. By making it easier for people to travel within a transit station’s catchment area, micro-mobility helps boost ridership. Additionally, e-scooters are providing an alternative for some cycling trips, potentially making bike lanes less congested in areas with high scooter use.
Charging and Maintenance
For the e-scooter sharing business model to succeed, rental fleets must be properly charged and maintained each day. This requires fleet managers to deploy vehicle servicers to gather scooters throughout the city for charging overnight. On average, each scooter provides 3-4 rides per day before requiring charging. Servicers use specialized vans equipped with docking stations to collect up to 15 scooters at a time. Once charged, scooters are redistributed in the morning based on predicted demand. Maintaining battery life and ensuring proper functioning of brakes, lights and other components is also important for safety and operations. Most companies have developed proprietary tools and management systems to efficiently handle charging, redistribution and maintenance of their shared fleets.
Sustainability Benefits
When compared to gasoline-powered vehicles, e-scooters provide clear sustainability benefits. A single e-scooter ride can potentially replace multiple car trips per day. Studies estimate each shared e-scooter removes between 0.15-0.5 cars off the road. By replacing short car trips that are responsible for a large portion of urban traffic and associated emissions, e-scooters help reduce air pollution, energy use and carbon dioxide emissions. They also take up far less public space than cars when in transit or parked. With their compact size and weight, fleets of e-scooters have a lower manufacturing and transportation footprint than other modes. And unlike traditional moped-style electric vehicles, e-scooters charge from portable batteries, eliminating tailpipe emissions. When powered by renewable energy sources, e-scooters can provide an increasingly clean mobility option for urban commuters.
Safety Concerns
While e-scooters offer many sustainability and transportation benefits, their rapid rise has brought safety concerns as well. Lack of helmets, unpredictability in bike lanes, sidewalk riding, and improper parking have raised issues. ER visits related to e-scooter accidents increased by 222% between 2014 and 2018 in the U.S. according to the CDC. Head injuries are especially prevalent, since e-scooters can reach 15 mph but provide no impact protection for riders. Other incidents involve scooters colliding with pedestrians on sidewalks or the back of unprotected scooters striking cars in traffic. Cities are struggling to create infrastructure and enforce rules to balance the needs of all street users. E-scooter regulations have sought to restrict sidewalk riding, institute speed caps, and require in-app safety training. Companies also offer free helmets at events to encourage proper safety gear.
Regulatory Challenges
As the popularity and use of shared e-scooters continues rising globally, regulatory responses from cities and countries have been uneven. Most view e-scooters favorably due to their transit and sustainability benefits. However, crafting reasonable policies around their use has proven complex. At issue are concerns over rider behavior, interaction with pedestrians and vehicles, appropriate parking, and company responsibilities. Some municipalities have imposed temporary bans or moratoriums on e-scooters until regulations are established. Others openly welcome e-scooters but struggle to balance the interests of various street users. Permitting processes also vary significantly in requirements for operators. As the micro-mobility industry matures, standardized best practices are emerging around proper infrastructure, speeds caps, parking rules and enforcement mechanisms. Over time, comprehensive regulation will help maximize e-scooters’ potential while minimizing any adverse impacts.
Electric Scooters
Looking ahead, e-scooters appear poised for continued growth globally as an important component of sustainable urban transportation systems. Ridership is projected to increase by over 30% year-over-year. More cities are opening to dockless scooter programs and expanding service areas within existing markets as infrastructure and policies support safe riding. Newer scooter models boast longer range and durability suited for commercial rental fleets.
In Summary, technologies like geofencing and automated parking make fleet management more efficient for operators. Micromobility companies hope to complement public transit even more by offering multimodal trip planning and integrated fare payment options. With ongoing improvements reducing safety risks as well as broader sustainability benefits, e-scooters seem likely to cement their role in the transportation landscape of cities across the world.