Report: There’s been a half-billion e-scooter and e-bike trips since 2010

It’s been a little more than a decade since the first e-scooter rolled across North American pavement in 2010, and since then, commuters and tourists have logged more than half a billion shared trips, according to an industry report published this week. And while COVID-19 caused a sharp dip in ridership of electric bikes and E-scooters (collectively known as micromobility), their usage is back on the rise—highlighting the resilience of emerging micromobility transportation systems across the United States, and their potential to keep economies on the move when other options fail.

“Despite a 70 percent decrease in travel across all modes in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, shared micromobility ridership in the U.S. nearly rebounded to pre-pandemic levels in 2021, with 112 million trips,” reads a new report from the National Association of City Transportation Officials, titled “Half a Billion Trips On Shared Micromobility Since 2010.” The report notes this latest number represents “a sharp contrast with 2020, when people took only 65 million trips.”

And even though rides on shared e-scooters and e-bikes dipped during the pandemic, e-bike sales skyrocketed in 2020 and 2021—U.S. consumers spent $15 billion on personal bicycles and bike accessories during that timespan. This points to the rising popularity and acceptance of micromobility as an efficient and inexpensive first- and last-mile option.

Over the last decade, electric bikes, in particular, have become popular modes of transportation in underserved communities. Between 2018 and 2021, shared e-bike rides almost doubled from 9.8 million to 17 million. In correlation with broader adoption, ridership has trended away from morning hours, indicating that trips are being taken throughout the day, the report says. Likewise, the number of people who purchased single trip tickets as opposed to monthly passes has “increased significantly over the past two years, indicating broader use of micromobility systems,” the report says. 

While the upward trend in usage has been increasing year over year since they were first introduced, ridership dramatically rose right before the pandemic struck: e-bike and e-scooter trips increasing by more than 60 percent in 2019.

“This contributed to an over 100 percent increase in trips taken on scooters nationwide. Scooter expansion was in some cases unstable, with scooter companies exiting markets at the end of the year (prior to the pandemic), possibly due to over-competition and other market pressures,” the report continues. “Total station-based bike share ridership increased 10 percent even as the number of systems decreased by 4 percent to 72.”

Granually, the report shows the impact that micromobility has played in keeping cities on the move during hardship. In New York City, a Citi Bike station near several major Manhattan hospitals became the most-used station in 2020, the report says. This represented a notable change from its previous rank as the 59th most-used e-bike station in 2019. 

“Our work to build a dense network of stations has helped generate more and more trips on the largest bike share network in the country. We look forward to continuing the expansion of this popular service into Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Queens and build on our successes,” said New York City Department of Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez in a statement.

Elsewhere, Minneapolis, Minn. has logged more than 3 million rides since 2018. Atlanta, Ga. has seen 1.5 million trips taken via dockless e-scooters and e-bikes this year alone. 

Along with accessibility, e-scooter and e-bike networks provide a clean energy alternative to other transportation methods..

In Chicago, a 2020 e-scooter survey found that about 30 percent of riders had said they would have used a vehicle if e-scooters hadn’t been available. This demonstrates “The value to the city of having this low carbon mobility choice,” said Sean Wiedel, assistant commissioner for citywide services at the Chicago Department of Transportation. “We’ve seen record ridership in 2021 and 2022, and our recently launched scooter license program has seen nearly 40 percent of trips start or end in equity priority areas.”

And in Washington D.C., maintenance issues prompted Capital Bikeshare to offer a 30-day free promotion. Over that month, 89 percent of users were new riders, “suggesting that transit riders shifted trips from transit to bike share,” the report continues.

Amid the increase in popularity, cities across the nation are working to refine regulations and redesign streets to increase e-scooter and e-bike adoption, while enhancing safety for everyone, the report continues.

 “Well-designed micromobility programs mean safer, more sustainable and resilient cities. By redesigning streets, lowering speeds, and prioritizing bikeway projects, local leaders can ensure that the bike and scooter boom continues to gain momentum, connecting people to the opportunities in their cities,” said Corinne Kisner, executive director of the National Association of City Transportation Officials.

For more information on the analysis, which was released this month, visit the National Association of City Transportation Officials’ website. An additional resource from the advocacy organization—the third in a series of papers that identifies trends in how cities manage micromobility networks and builds on previous regulatory guidelines—can also be found on the site.