What makes people choose e-scooters for the first or last mile of a public transport trip?

Abstract

Shared e-scooters have been introduced in a number of cities in the last five years. Their potential to contribute to the first/last mile problem of public transport (PT) services is widely acknowledged, yet Norwegian data suggests that over time, fewer e-scooter trips are made in combination with PT and in general, few shared e-scooter trips are in fact first/last mile of PT services. Earlier studies show that the relation between PT and shared e-scooters is complex, and context dependent. In this study, we investigate which factors contribute to more use of e-scooters in combination with PT. The aim is to identify measures that can be used to increase the use of e-scooters in combination with PT. To investigate this, we use our survey on e-scooters which has been distributed each year for 3 years, totalling 6 458 unique shared Norwegian e- scooter users. We asked about their use of e-scooters in combination with PT and factors that may stimulate more use of shared e-scooters in conjunction with PT. Our findings suggest that pricing integration stands out as the most prominent way forward for more successful integration between shared e-scooters and PT.