Suggested Citation:
Darr, Justin (2026)

Modeling the Perceived Mental and Physical Wellness Impacts of Shared Micromobility Trips

. Institute of Transportation Studies, University of California, Davis, Dissertation UCD-ITS-RR-25-129

Abstract:

Shared micromobility use has the potential to improve physical and mental wellness. As bike share and scooter share systems become more popular and the effects of their use more understood, it is important to consider how users perceive these systems to be affecting them. How users perceive the effects of riding shared micromobility may influence how much they choose to ride, and their riding experiences may in turn shape those perceptions. Additionally, how safe users feel when using bike share and scooter share is important in evaluating if the built environment is adequately serving these users as changes in design are made over time to better accommodate walking, bicycling, and scooting in cities. Active travel modes like bicycling also provide a healthier alternative to driving, and it is useful to know if users of bike share and scooter share feel they are experiencing more physical activity as a result of their use of micromobility. Therefore, in this dissertation I include three studies to model the perceived mental and physical wellness impacts of shared micromobility trips. I leverage the survey and travel diary data from the American Micromobility Panel (AMP) project, which surveyed bike share and scooter share users in the United States in summer of 2022. The AMP project recruited participants from five major shared micromobility operators across 48 cities in the United States. Participants completed a travel diary during the study period, which tracked the trips they made and allowed participants to describe their trips, such as by mode used to complete the trip. Following the travel diary, participants were invited to complete a survey which asked them various questions about their experiences using shared micromobility. This pairing of the travel diary and the survey allowed for me to associate each participant’s experience riding bike share or scooter share (such as the weather during the trips) with their responses about their overall experiences and perceptions of shared micromobility and their well-being. The first study modeled users’ perceived changes in their mental wellness as a result of shared micromobility use. Participants were asked how much they agree or disagree that riding a bike share bike/scooter share scooter improves their mental health. They were also asked if after riding a bike share bike/scooter share scooter, they feel less stressed than before their trip. Finally, participants responded with how much they agree or disagree that they feel relaxed while riding a bike share bike/scooter share scooter. I used these three questions to describe a participant’s perceived mental wellness. I concluded that introducing bike share use to one’s daily routine can positively impact their perceived mental wellness for that first trip or two on average, with diminishing returns with increased riding. However, scooter share is not expected to influence a person’s perceived mental wellness. The second study modeled users’ perceived safety of shared micromobility based on their level of agreement or disagreement that bike share/scooter share is unsafe and that they worry about crashing bike share/scooter share. The model predicts that participants are more likely to find bike share safer than scooter share and shows that a user’s perceived experiences almost crashing their bike share bike or scooter share scooter is a useful indicator in predicting their perceived safety of shared micromobility. Unlike with perceived mental wellness, the amount of daily shared micromobility use on average does not indicate how safe they perceive shared micromobility to be. The final study modeled users’ perceived changes in physical activity as a result of their shared micromobility use. Participants were asked how much their use of micromobility changed how much they walk, bike, and scoot. According to the model results, users are predicted to be more likely to agree that they increase their physical activity (via walking, biking, or scooting) as they increase their scooter share use in minutes per day on average. This increase in perceived change in physical activity is predicted to be strongest for those first 10 minutes per day of scooter share use, and bike share use is not expected to have any strong effect on this perceived change in physical activity. We can expect positive perceived changes in mental wellness, safety, and physical activity as a result of one’s experiences with shared micromobility according to the results of my three models. The uncertainty in the results suggest a need for further exploring the important pathways for improving a person’s perceptions of mental and physical wellness. Based on the results of the models, individual characteristics appear to be much more important predictors of wellness than city-level characteristics or the aggregate experiences of the weather and built environments during the micromobility trips. However, the sociodemographic characteristics included in the model were not as important as the perceived experiences of using shared micromobility.