The Year in Review: 2019 OakDOT Shared Mobility Snapshot
2019 was another record-breaking year for shared mobility in Oakland. The car share, bike share and E-scooter share programs remained popular, with total ridership growing by 57% to 2.1 million trips. These trips covered 4.6 million miles, a 35% increase over 2018’s total. Data from 2018 can be found in last year’s snapshot.
The bike share system, rebranded as BayWheels, briefly expanded to include dockless e-bikes and launched a 6 month pilot program with adaptive bikes for persons with disabilities. In July 2019, OakDOT launched the City’s first official E-scooter share program with four permittees: Lime, Bird, Grüv and Lyft. With two new operators entering the City and the overall E-scooter fleet growing, total E-scooter ridership increased by 75% from 2018. Figure 1 and 2 show how the total trips and average distance traveled on each shared mode changed between 2018 and 2019.
As shared mobility services expanded, we sought insight into two questions: 1. How are shared modes affecting Oaklander’s travel behavior?; and 2. How safe are E-scooters, compared to other modes of transportation?
To help answer the first question, OakDOT worked with the Transportation Sustainability Research Center (TSRC) at UC Berkeley to survey users of free-floating car share, and with graduate student Melody Lin at the University of Washington to survey users of E-scooter share. Both of these were “opt-in” surveys, meaning they were sent to a large group with mostly unknown demographics, and some people opted to take the survey. Therefore, both are subject to selection bias, as certain demographic groups may be more inclined to participate in such surveys than others. For this reason, we are not using this data to draw broad conclusions about the demographics of E-scooter share or car share users. Nevertheless, the results provide valuable insights into how these new services affect Oakland’s transportation system as a whole.
To answer the second question, we obtained data on E-scooter-related injuries from local hospitals and Emergency Medical Services (EMS). For the first time, scooter injury rates in Oakland can be compared to other modes of transportation. Traffic collision data from the Statewide Injury Tracking System (SWITRS) was queried using UC Berkeley’s Transportation Injury Mapping System (TIMS) to obtain the number of injuries involving people driving, biking and walking.
QUESTION 1. How do shared vehicles affect Oaklander’s travel behavior?
E-Scooter survey
In April 2019, a 31-question survey was emailed to users of Lime and Bird, and posted to OakDOT’s social media accounts and website. The survey covered topics such as trip replacement, car ownership, safety incidents, demographics and overall travel patterns. A total of 897 completed surveys were received.
E-scooter trips replace walking and driving, while supporting transit
Respondents were asked: “How would you have taken your most recent scooter trip, if E-scooters were not available”? Approximately equal percentages of respondents would have taken that trip by foot (42%) as by car (41%, including 14% personal car, 26% ride-hail and 1% car share, see figure 2). These findings are a mixed bag. While reducing driving trips is important for achieving greenhouse gas emissions, safety and overall transportation goals, reducing walking is not.
The survey also asked how the availability of E-scooters affected the respondents’ overall use of other modes of transportation. The most affected modes were ride-hailing and driving alone, with 41% saying they drive alone less often and 55% said they used ride hailing (such as Uber and Lyft) less often (See figure 3).
Approximately 37% of riders use E-scooters to access public transportation at least once a week, as many riders live in a zip code without a BART station. Public transit was the only mode to see a net increase in usage due to E-scooters. This is similar to what we’ve seen with bike share, and suggests that E-scooters are an important first-mile and last-mile connection for BART riders.
E-scooters reduce car ownership
Approximately 10% of survey respondents report that they have reduced the number of automobiles they or their family own because of E-scooters. These riders cite E-scooters as being instrumental in their commutes and allowing them to access more local businesses. In 2019, E-scooter trips in Oakland averaged 1.2 miles. The survey findings suggest that people are using E-scooters to replace shorter distance trips that they otherwise would have needed a car for. So why are E-scooter users choosing this new mode? “Speed and reliability” was the number one option chosen, followed by “fun”. Perhaps there is a market for smiles.
Free-floating Car Share
In December 2017 and January 2019, surveys were emailed to users of GIG Car Share (free-floating car share) to determine how vehicle ownership and travel behavior changed over time. The following analysis includes only the 218 survey responses received from GIG users who reported living in Oakland.
Among survey respondents, 57% did not have a vehicle in their household and 66% of respondents reported joining GIG specifically “to gain additional mobility”. When asked about the purpose of their most recent trip, the most common responses were grocery shopping (14%), commuting (14%) and a social or recreational trip (11%).
Car share reduces ride-hailing but supports transit
Most survey respondents indicated that they used other modes less often because of car share. The largest impact was on ride-hailing services (such as Uber and Lyft), including ride-hailing carpool services (such as Uber Pool and Lyft Line). About 84% of ride-hail users reported that their usage of Uber or Lyft (for single ride trips) was less frequent due to the availability of car share. Most survey respondents reported using car share to access public transit, with 36% using it in combination with a public bus, and 55% in combination with Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART).
Car share reduces car ownership and vehicle miles traveled
Survey results indicate that car sharing helps users reduce vehicle ownership or avoid purchasing new vehicles. One in five respondents reported shedding a vehicle partially or completely because of the availability of car share. Shed vehicles were much older and less efficient than the car share fleet, with an average age of 14 years. However, only 2% of respondents confirmed that the vehicle was shed solely due to the availability of car share, instead indicating that they shed a vehicle due to a combination of the availability car share and other modes (such as transit, ride hailing, bike share, etc.). This suggests that the availability of a range of transportation options has a cumulative effect, helping to reduce vehicle ownership. In addition, 10% of respondents avoided purchasing a vehicle because of the availability of car share.
Among respondents who continued to own cars, the availability of car share allowed them to use those cars less. 42% of respondents with cars reported that car share allowed them to reduce their total vehicle miles traveled, with a median of 35 fewer miles traveled per month.
QUESTION 2. How safe are E-scooters, compared to other modes of transportation?
The Alameda County Emergency Medical Services, Highland Hospital and Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland provided OakDOT with data on scooter-related injuries in 2018, including figures for patients who were brought in to Oakland hospitals by ambulance or personal vehicles. This data, painstakingly compiled by reading hand-written notes, is essential as E-scooters are not typically included in collision or injury reporting forms. We compared the hospital data to publicly available collision data on cars, trucks, bikes and pedestrians from the Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System (SWITRS), in order to understand the safety level of E-scooters in relation to other modes. We must note that this is an imperfect comparison for several reasons, but is the best data currently available.
E-scooter injuries
From June to December of 2018, hospitals reported a total of 130 E-scooter involved injuries, with one severe injury and the rest being visible injuries or injury complaints. We know that a total of 1 million scooter trips occurred during that time period, covering 1.2 million miles. Therefore, Oakland saw one E-scooter related injury per 9,230 miles traveled.
During the same period, a total of 199 injury-causing collisions were reported involving pedestrians, 96 involving bikes, 143 involving motorcycles and 1,543 involving cars only, for a total of 2,047 reported injuries (Source: UC Berkeley TIMS).
The total number of E-scooter related injuries (130) is similar to what we found in our survey results; 17% of total respondents (144 people) reported having been injured while riding an E-scooter or were injured by an E-scooter rider.
However, to fully understand the safety implications of this new mode we need to look at not only the total injuries, but also their cause.
What modes cause the most injuries?
Among the scooter related injuries, 71% were caused by a person using another mode of transportation (i.e. a car, bicycle, or motorcycle), and only 29% by the scooter rider themselves.
This rate is similar to what we see for pedestrians and bicyclists, in that the majority of injuries involving people walking or biking are caused by a different mode, nearly always by someone driving a car. In Oakland, all of the 71% of scooter user injuries involving more than just the rider themself were caused by drivers. By contrast, car drivers are responsible for 72% of the collisions they are involved in.
Alcohol-Related Collisions
Alcohol consumption is often a contributing factor in traffic collisions. About 10% of all E-scooter injuries in Oakland involved alcohol, a figure similar to those involving cars and pedestrians. Alcohol was a contributing factor in about 14% of collisions involving pick-up trucks.
Improving E-scooter safety over time
Shared E-scooters only recently arrived in Oakland, and we expect injuries to decrease over time. When cars first become popular in the early 1900’s, the fatality rate was over 22 times higher than it is today. Fatalities dropped from 25 people per million vehicle miles traveled in 1921 to 1.13 in 2015.
This drastic improvement in safety took decades of sustained action. Over time, cities adapted street infrastructure to fit this new mode by tearing out streetcar lines, narrowing sidewalks, adding traffic signals and standardizing traffic signage. The cars themselves also became safer through advances like bumpers, seatbelts and airbags. We are already seeing E-scooter companies deploying vehicles with improved safety features, such as bigger wheels and front shock absorbers. Our survey results suggest those improved safety features may help bring in new customers, as the most cited reason for not riding E-scooters was “the scooters seem unsafe”.
In addition to adapting E-scooters to the streets, we also need to adapt the streets to the E-scooters. About 85% of E-scooter survey respondents said they prefer to ride in protected bike lanes vs. only 9% who prefer to ride in the street with cars.
In order for Oaklanders to feel safe when choosing a shared E-scooter or bike, they need safe vehicles, safe places to ride and safe places to park. Therefore, OakDOT is actively exploring several initiatives, including:
- Installing dozens of “designated scooter parking areas” where E-scooters can be safely parked.
- Requiring a minimum 9” wheel size, so that scooter riders can more safely navigate potholes and imperfect pavement.
- Requiring locking mechanisms, so that E-scooters are locked to bike racks and cannot be parked or thrown onto a sidewalk.
- Expanding the City’s network of protected bike lanes, using E-scooter data to inform which streets need better bike lanes the most. See Let’s Bike Oakland for more info.
Concluding thoughts
Shared mobility services are still relatively new, but already impact how tens of thousands of Oaklanders get around. Our surveys show that both car share and E-scooter share are effective in reducing vehicles on the road, but the impacts on walking are concerning. Shared mobility appears to help Oaklanders live car free, but only when combined with other modes such as public transit.
A range of shared modes are available in Oakland, allowing users to pick and choose which mode works best for each trip. For example, someone might choose a free-floating car share vehicle to get to the grocery store, but choose a shared E-scooter to get from their home to BART. Together, these modes appear to form a sort of “ecosystem” of transportation options that are mutually supportive, helping Oaklanders live car-free. Therefore, with proper regulation, these services can play a vital role in helping the City meet its transportation and greenhouse gas emission goals.
Thanks for reading!
Article by OakDOT’s Shared Mobility Team (Kerby Olsen and Valerie Tan)
Further resource
To download the full E-scooter survey data, go to: https://www.oaklandca.gov/documents/e-scooter-survey-results
The free-floating car share survey summary is available here:
https://www.oaklandca.gov/documents/an-evaluation-of-free-floating-carsharing-in-oakland
