Measuring the Impacts of Dockless Micro-mobility Services on Public Transit Accessibility

Keywords: accessibility, public transit, dockless scooters, micro-mobility, first-mile and last-mile problem.
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Sunday
Session Start / End Time: 2/27/2022 05:20 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/27/2022 06:40 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 59

Abstract

Dockless micro-mobility services provide a flexible and fast alternative for short-distance travels (NACTO, 2020); consequently, dockless micro-mobility services are reported to be a presumptive solution to the first-mile and last-mile (FM/LM) problem (Baek, Lee, Chung, & Kim, 2021; NACTO, 2020), which can lead to higher public transit accessibility. However, very few studies investigate dockless scooter service’s contribution to public transit accessibility. Meanwhile, despite its potential collaboration with public transit systems, dockless micro-mobility has some limitations that can significantly hinder its practical and equitable application, such as uneven distribution, high economic cost, and asymmetrically low capacity compared to public transit. To address these unexplored topics, we define accessibility increment – the normalized difference between the transit accessibility with and without the presence of scooters – to measure scooters’ contribution to transit accessibility. We conduct spatial analysis on the distribution of accessibility increment, and we find the accessibility increment is mainly clustered around downtown Columbus and the Ohio State University, where most scooters are often found. We also conduct sensitivity analysis on the accessibility increment with respect to scooter’s economic cost. Finally, we introduce higher-order accessibility increment, the capacitated version of accessibility increment, to measure the robustness of accessibility increment with more simultaneous users. The findings of this paper will provide valuable first-hand evidence for future micro-mobility research and constructive guidance for transit authorities and dockless scooter vendors.