Going electricThe key to reducing greenhouse gas emissions is to be aware of all the transportation options available. E-scooters are an alternative to gasoline-powered cars and can be used for short trips. How much of a difference does e-scooters make?
According to a new study, e-scooters could potentially reduce travel time by 17.4 percent on average in the US. This is a significant reduction in time spent in cars producing CO.2From its exhaust.
This research was actually prompted by a policy in Atlanta, Georgia in 2019, which banned e-scooters from using e-bikes between 9 pm and 4 AM. A bid to improve public safetyAfter several accidents. They could be locked out at a particular time using the technology aboard the shared vehicles.
“I thought that was interesting, because now we have nearly-perfect behavior compliance in response to policy interventions, which is extremely rare.” says data scientist Omar AsensioFrom the Georgia Institute of Technology.
“All of a suddenly, if the scooter is not available, what do we do? This experiment was a natural one, to measure traffic speeds before and after the policy intervention, and to test behavioral theories about mode substitution.
What Asensio and his colleagues found was that average commute times increased across the city by about 10 percent, while travel to stadium events (such as soccer games) rose by 37 percent on average – the equivalent of about 12 minutes per trip.
Add up all the extra time Atlanta’s commuters spend stuck in traffic and it adds up to 784,000 additional hours Per year. Calculations were done using user data Uber collects the following.
Researchers didn’t convert that directly to additional carbon dioxide being released into the air. However, it’s likely that it will be substantial. The extra travel time was a cost. They estimated that the economic costs to commuters stuck in traffic jams when e-scooters don’t exist could be as high as $536 million per year for the US.
“We are certain that electric mobility will play a major role in decarbonizing passenger transport. We therefore need to understand how different modes of electric transport interact.” Camila Apablaza, an industrial engineer, says:Also available at Georgia Tech.
They are collectively called “The Collective.”Micromobility shared‘ options – rented e-scooters and e-bikes you can hop on and hop off with the help of an app – are now available in More than 100Metropolitan areas in the United States.
It is not clear if these alternative travel options actually reduce carbon emissions, or if they simply replace other options such a walking and public transport. These are the facts. Research is not a one-size fits allFinding It’s complexIt depends on the area.
In Atlanta – one of the largest adopters of shared micromobility services – it seems clear that e-scooters and e-bikes have a direct impact on congestion.
At the same time the researchers are keen to point out the need for public safety to be prioritized in terms of city infrastructure and planning for these alternative modes of transport – the reason for the e-scooter and e-bike ban was because of hospitalizations and even fatal accidents involving riders and pedestrians.
Researchers write that “Physical infrastructure will require land use and space allocation for longer-term planning, such as converting lanes normally reserved for cars into bike lanes that could be used for micromobility.” Paper.
The research was published in Nature Energy.
