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Shared electric scooters and electric bikes can reduce traffic in urban centres

Evidence from a policy experiment shows that public safety bans on electric scooters and electric bikes can generate unintended traffic congestion in city centres. The studied ban is found to increase travel times by 9–11% for daily evening commutes and by 37% following stadium events.

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Fig. 1: Micromobility experimental designs.

References

  1. Heineke, K., Benedikt, K., Scurtu, D. & Weig, F. Micromobility’s 15,000 mile check-up. McKinsey & Company https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/automotive-and-assembly/our-insights/micromobilitys-15000-mile-checkup (2019). This article reports global market forecasts for the micromobility industry.

  2. The Role of Transit, Shared Modes, and Public Policy in the New Mobility Landscape (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2021); https://doi.org/10.17226/26053This report presents a consensus study of shared micromobility in urban environments.

  3. City of Atlanta, GA. City of Atlanta imposes a nighttime scooter an e-bike ban citywide no ride zone effective Friday. Mayor’s Office of Communications https://www.atlantaga.gov/Home/Components/News/News/13118/672 (2019). This press release announces the Micromobility No Ride Zones for the City of Atlanta.

  4. Asensio, O. I. et al. Real-time data from mobile platforms to evaluate sustainable transportation infrastructure. Nat. Sustain. 3, 463–471 (2020). This paper presents the use of real-time mobility data for large-scale consumer discovery in transport electrification.

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This is a summary: Asensio, O. I. et al. Impacts of micromobility on car displacement with evidence from a natural experiment and geofencing policy. Nat. Energy https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-022-01135-1 (2022).

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Shared electric scooters and electric bikes can reduce traffic in urban centres. Nat Energy 7, 1013–1014 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-022-01139-x

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