Benign mobility? Electric bicycles, sustainable transport consumption behaviour and socio-technical transitions in Nanjing, China

Xiao Lin, Peter Wells and Benjamin K. Sovacool

Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 2017, vol. 103, issue C, 223-234

Abstract: In this paper, we ask whether electric bicycle (e-bike) use in urban China is a temporary phase or an embedded form of sustainable mobility. A survey was conducted in Nanjing in order to assess the characteristics and attitudes of electric bicycle users and other mode users (e.g. pedestrians; car drivers). Based on over 1000 responses a Logit Model was used to analyse current and future mode choice. The results show that electric bicycles are not necessarily displacing cars on a substantial scale, but are rather displacing the ‘benign’ modes of walking, traditional bicycling, and using the bus. We conclude that electric bicycles are helping to enable mobility-dependent lifestyles that may in the future be supported by cars, rather than offering a true departure from carbon-centred, motorized forms of transport.

Keywords: Electric bicycles; E-bikes; Nanjing; User attitudes; Regime embedding; Alternative mobility (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (15)

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DOI: 10.1016/j.tra.2017.06.014

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