Who uses subsidized micromobility, and why? Understanding low-income riders in three countries

Abstract

Shared bicycle and e-scooter programs, which we refer to as ‘shared micromobility’, have been expanding in cities across the globe. To date, little research has directly examined the role that shared micromobility programs play in supporting the travel needs of low-income populations. To fill this research need, this paper aims to evaluate a subsidy program for low-income riders by examining the demographics, usage patterns, benefits and barriers for low-income riders relative to general riders. We explore this aim using a survey of 1037 Lime customers from the United States, Australia and New Zealand. Lime operates shared e-bike and e-scooter programs in seventeen countries and over 200 cities around the world. They operate a program called ‘Lime Access’ that provides subsidized rides to qualifying customers. Using descriptive and comparative statistics, we find that Lime Access riders were more likely than general riders to be locals who use shared micromobility for utilitarian purposes (commuting, shopping) as a regular part of their daily travel patterns (35% of Access riders used Lime daily vs 7% of non-Access riders) and in combination with transit (44% of Access riders connected to transit on their last trip vs 23% of non-Access). Open-ended comments revealed the important role that Lime played in meeting the mobility needs of Access customers, especially customers with a disability or who do not own a car. The findings suggest that if cities want to expand the uptake of shared micromobility among low-income populations, they may want to consider agreements that incentivise or support the expansion of subsidized ridership programs.

Keywords

• E-bikes
• E-scooters
• Shared micromobility
• Equity
• Low-income populations
• Mixed-methods, research