Report: Shared Bikes and Scooters Could Reduce Car Trips By 50 Percent in Downtowns

"Electric scooters and bikes have a 'universal potential' to provide more efficient, cheaper ways to get around U.S. cities than driving a car," reports Andrew Theen. 

Theen is sharing news of a report prepared by Washington-based Inrix Research and released on September 9, 2019.

According to the report, the number of short trips taken by car enables the potential of shared bikes and scooters in dense urban areas. Theen explains: "Inrix analyzed more than 50 million car trips in cities across the U.S. and determined 48% in the most traffic-clogged urban centers are less than 3 miles. In Portland, 51% of car trips are less than 3 miles long, according to the analysis."

"According to its analysis, half of those trips less than 3 miles could be easily replaced by e-scooters, e-bikes or bike rental programs like Biketown."

Theen, reporting for the Oregonian, notes that Portland showed well for micromobility potential on the report, placing seventh on the list of U.S. cities for the number of trips that could be replaced by scooters or bikes. The cities preceding Portland on the list: 1) Honolulu, 2) New Orleans, 3) Nashville, 4) Chicago, 5) Charlotte, and 6) New York.