Investigating the impacts of E-scooters on a bike-sharing system in Tucson, Arizona with a no ride zone

Abstract

E-scooters have exploded in popularity across the United States in recent years. Understanding the effects of shared micromobility on society, as well as understanding how one shared micromobility mode can affect other travel modes is valuable for decision making and evaluation. In this study, the effects of introducing E-scooters on a preexisting bike-sharing system were evaluated using real-world data. A no-ride zone policy for E-scooters around the University of Arizona (UA) effectively created policy-based control and treatment groups to observe the effect of E-scooters on the bike-sharing system. A difference-in-differences regression model was used to estimate the change in the number of bike-sharing trips after the E-scooters were introduced for nonmembers and members, finding that after the introduction of E-scooters, member bike-sharing system trips were decreased by 1.5 trips per station per day in the area where E-scooters were introduced. Furthermore, a temporal and spatial analysis was conducted to evaluate the behavioral change exhibited by bike-sharing users after the introduction of E-scooters. E-scooter data was used to compare the similarity between bike-sharing and E-scooter usage patterns, indicating that E-scooters reduced the number of spontaneous trips taken by bike-sharing users. The number of nonmember bike-sharing trips decreased for all locations, indicating that E-scooters became the more popular option for leisure activities. Furthermore, member bike-sharing system users were found to travel less on weekends than nonmembers.