Shared Micromobility – the shared use of a bicycle, scooter, or other low-speed mode – is an innovative transportation strategy that enables users to have short-term access to a mode of transportation on an as-needed basis. Shared micromobility includes various service models and transportation modes that meet the diverse needs of travelers, such as station-based bikesharing (a bicycle picked-up from and returned to any station or kiosk) and dockless bikesharing and scooter sharing (a bicycle or scooter picked up and returned to any location). Early documented impacts of shared...
To evaluate the potential for low-speed modes to improve transit access, the EasyConnect field test will offer shared-use Segway Human Transporters (HT), electric bicycles, and bicycles linked to a Bay Area Rapid Transit District station and surrounding employment centers in California. Because of safety concerns, research was conducted to understand the risks associated with these modes and potential risk factors. A review of the safety literature indicates that user error is the major cause of low speed mode crashes, and significant risk factors are poor surface conditions and...
Shared mobility—the shared use of a vehicle, bicycle, or other mode—is an innovative transportation strategy that enables users to gain short-term access to transportation modes on an “as-needed” basis. Shared mobility includes various forms of carsharing, bikesharing, ridesharing, on-demand ride services, and microtransit. Additionally, smartphone and mobile “apps” aggregate and optimize these mobility services and are critical to many shared mobility modes. Courier network services connect couriers using their personal vehicles or bicycles with freight and seek to disrupt the existing...
Shared micromobility – the shared use of bicycles, scooters, or other low-speed modes – is an innovative transportation strategy growing across the United States that includes various service models such as docked, dockless, and e-bike service models. This research focuses on understanding how docked bikesharing and dockless e-bikesharing models complement and compete with respect to user travel behaviors. To inform our analysis, we used two datasets from February 2018 of Ford GoBike (docked) and JUMP (dockless electric) bikesharing trips in San Francisco. We employed three methodological...
Shared mobility can include roundtrip services (a vehicle, bicycle, scooter, or other mode is returned to its origin); one-way station-based services (a vehicle, bicycle, scooter, or other mode is returned to a different designated station location); and one-way free-floating services (a vehicle, bicycle, scooter, or other mode can be returned anywhere within a geographic area). To help manage free-floating services, cities and shared mobility operators may use technologies like geofencing. Geofencing is a technology that uses GPS or RFID technology to create a virtual boundary, enabling...
For as long as there have been cities, there have been suburbs. Shared mobility—the shared use of a vehicle, bicycle, or other travel mode—is an innovative transportation strategy that enables users to have short-term access to a transportation mode on an as-needed basis. Shared mobility can enhance access and reduce social exclusion in lower-density environments and provide transportation options to carless and public transit-dependent households, particularly in areas without high-quality, fixed-route public transportation service. This chapter discusses the design and evolution of...
Shared micromobility – or short-term access to shared bikes and scooters – provides a flexible alternative for households living in urban areas, individuals seeking first- and last-mile connections to public transportation, and those without access to a private vehicle trying to reach jobs and essential services. In this paper, the authors discuss the history, growth, and evolution of bike and scooter sharing in North America; summarize the demographics and impacts of shared micromobility; and explore shared micromobility policies and practices for managing devices and operations such as:...
Growing concerns over global motorization and climate change have led to increasing interest in sustainable transportation alternatives, such as bikesharing (the shared use of a bicycle fleet). Since 1965, bikesharing has grown across the globe on four continents including: Europe, North America, South America, and Asia (including Australia). Today, there are approximately 100 bikesharing programs operating in an estimated 125 cities around the world with over 139,300 bicycles. Bikesharing’s evolution is categorized into three generations: 1) White Bikes (or Free Bike Systems); 2) Coin-...
