Today, electric scooters have clearly made their place in the urban landscape. And particularly in European capitals. Indeed, it is easier to cross the city without hindrance, avoiding congestion or crowded public transport in rush hour. Popular, it represents, for many, an affordable, efficient, and sustainable means of transportation. So much so that some “scooterists” have left their cars in the garage. This is what the latest annual survey by Voi attests, published to celebrate the micromobility day. A worldwide survey was conducted last July, with 10,000 of their users in 11 countries. Focus on the key figures of this study, which asserts 3 new perspectives in the world of micromobility.
The positive impact of Voi on car use
“To what extent has the existence of electric scooters and other micromobility services impacted your car usage?” Added for the very first time in their annual survey, this question seems to have yielded an initial answer. Indeed, it turned out that 36% of the respondents declare to have drastically or radically changed their car use since the emergence of shared micromobility solutions. In other words, more than one third consider Voi’s services as a real alternative.
In addition, this impact is even more pronounced for users living in the suburbs. People living more than 30 minutes from the city have changed their use of the car more than those living downtown. This difference is also pronounced among users over 45 years of age. Indeed, nearly half have reduced their car use, compared to about 30% for users under 35.
A variation, explained by Voi, because for them “younger individuals may be that they don’t have access to a car – more than through taxis and ride-hailing services. On the other hand, the adoption of shared micromobility services may impact young people’s future decisions on whether to buy their own car, given that shared car services are increasingly available today.”
Intermodality with public transportation
Unsurprisingly, public transport is the most popular choice. More than 55% of Voi users combine their electric scooter trip with public transport. Last year, this figure was 47%. Far from competing with public transport, the scooter is a complementary alternative. A fact already observed by one of the other market leaders, Tier Mobility. Indeed, in its blog posts published in April 2022, the latter attested that “20 to 50% of TIER trips are first/last mile trips, complementing public transportation.“
Habits are evolving…
The last point to remember from this survey concerns the use of electric scooters. Compared to previous years, a significant drop was observed in the number of respondents who said they use scooters “for joyrinding, without purpose”. Today, scooters are more commonly used to get to work, school, friends’ homes, or appointments during work hours.
As stated by the Swedish micro-mobility provider, “Although we are happy that people want to use our service simply because it’s a joyful experience, our goal is to enable more people to fulfil their daily needs without the need for a car. This indicates that the use of micromobility services is increasingly becoming a normalised part of users’ everyday habits.” So the question arises if these electric scooter services will become a dissuasive factor for more than half of the people to buy a new vehicle… At least, it is well on its way!
