Shared Micromobility: Policy, Practices, and Emerging Futures

Shared micromobility – or short-term access to shared  bikes and scooters – provides a flexible alternative for households living in urban areas, households seeking first and last-mile connections to public transportation, and those  without access to a private vehicle trying to access jobs and essential services. Up until the global pandemic, shared micromobility grew worldwide on a relatively steep growth curve, beginning in the early 2010s. Shared micro-mobility is a transportation strategy that enables users’ short-term access to a transportation mode on an as-needed basis (Shaheen et al.2019). Shared micromobility includes a number of operational models, including station-based micromobility (where a bicycle or scooter is picked up from and returned to any station or kiosk) and dockless (or stationless) micromobility (where a bicycle or scooter is picked up and returned to any location). Another service model, sometimes referred to as a ‘hybrid model’, blends aspects of station-based and dockless systems that allows users to check out a bicycle or scooter from a station and end their trip either returning it to a station or a non-station location (or vice versa) (Shaheen and Cohen 2019).