 Spatial equity of micromobility systems: A comparison of shared E-scooters and docked bikeshare in Washington DCLin Su, Xiang Yan and Xilei Zhao Transport Policy, 2024, vol. 145, issue C, 25-36 Abstract: Many cities around the world have introduced dockless micromobility services and witnessed their rapid growth. Shared dockless e-scooters can expand mobility options for underserved neighborhoods and population groups, but they may also exacerbate existing transportation inequalities. So far, our understanding of the equity implications of dockless e-scooter services is limited. To address this research gap, this study develops an analytical framework to compare the equity performance of dockless e-scooter and docked bikeshare systems in Washington DC with a set of measures including availability, accessibility, usage, and idle time. Results reveal that dockless e-scooter services increase accessibility to shared micromobility options in disadvantaged neighborhoods but widen the access gaps across neighborhoods. Compared to bikeshare, shared e-scooters provide a higher level of spatial accessibility overall due to greater supply; however, the greater supply of shared e-scooters largely leads to longer average idle time rather than a greater number of trips. Finally, it appears that the bikeshare system's equity program is more effective than the equity programs provided by e-scooter operators in promoting usage in low-income neighborhoods. These findings suggest that increasing vehicle supply alone would probably not lead to higher micromobility use in disadvantaged neighborhoods. Instead, policymakers should combine a variety of strategies such as promoting the enrollment of equity programs and reducing access barriers (e.g., smartphone and banking requirements) to micromobility services. Keywords: Micromobility; Dockless e-scooter; Bikeshare; Transportation equity (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:trapol:v:145:y:2024:i:c:p:25-36 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from DOI: 10.1016/j.tranpol.2023.10.008 Access Statistics for this article Transport Policy is currently edited by Y. Hayashi More articles in Transport Policy from Elsevier |
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