Suggested Citation:
Ahmad, Maha, Kailai Wang, Hossain Mohiuddin, Andrea Broaddus, Mike Fortier, Giovanni Circella (2023)

Do Shared E-scooters Encourage Transit Use?: Investigating the Factors Affecting the Connection Between E-scooters and Transit Using Trip and Survey Data From 20 U.S. Cities

Shared e-scooters have become a popular alternative for short trips and can serve as a first- and last-mile connector to transit. This study investigates the factors motivating e-scooter users to connect to transit through the analysis of 48,301 e-scooter trips in 20 US cities. While most studies rely on geo-spatial assumptions to assess whether a transit connection was made, the data used for this study contain answers to survey questions presented to travelers after the e-scooter trip, including whether a transit connection was made or not, and when the decision to use the e-scooter was made. We present descriptive statistics and the results of the estimation of a binary logit model on the decision to use e-scooters in connection to transit. The model includes urban and built environment characteristics to control for heterogeneity across urban spaces. People who decide to use an e-scooter on the “spur of the moment” are found to be more likely to connect to transit than those who plan their trip in advance. The study reveals important insights about modal substitution. Previous studies assessed the modal substitution of micromobility options based on mode choice if e-scooters were not available. However, an e-scooter trip may substitute a portion of a transit trip rather than the full trip. Our data shows that 6.5% of respondents say they would have used transit if e-scooters were not available, but half of these respondents connected to transit, suggesting a more nuanced adjustment in how e-scooters complement the use of transit.