Shared Electric Scooters in Vienna: Analyzing Usage Characteristics with Limited Data

Abstract

The usage characteristics of shared electric scooters are largely unknown as private operators rarely make usage data publicly available. To overcome this barrier, we developed a methodology to monitor shared e-scooters only with publicly available data. We applied the methodology to identify trips and analyze their characteristics during a two-week period in the summer of 2019 in Vienna. We estimate that approximately 68,000 shared e-scooter trips were taken during this period. The majority of shared e-scooter trips are estimated to be between 500m and 2.5km: shared e-scooters are used in different distance and duration ranges compared to walking, cycling and bike-sharing, covering a niche of existing urban transport modes. The spatiotemporal analysis suggests use for recreation and tourism rather than everyday commuting, although its use as a public transport feeder mode is also estimated to be significant.