• by Amanda Silvia , Op-Ed Contributor, August 15, 2018

Bird Rides, an electric scooter rideshare startup, made its debut in Boston in July, only to be banned by city officials a few weeks later. These dock-less scooters pose concerns that other popular ride and bike-share programs do not in terms of safety and their impact on environment.

In a survey of U.S. adults, only 24% reported knowledge of electronic scooter rideshare programs. Companies like Uber, Lyft, and CitiBike currently dominate the rideshare marketplace, which represents automobiles, bikes, and, electric scooters.

Between 70% and 74% of respondents reported familiarity with Uber and Lyft, and 15% had heard of CitiBike. However, scooter rideshares are most popular with young adults in age cohorts 18-24 and 25-34. Of respondents in these age groups who knew of a scooter rideshare company, 63% to 77% reported using one or more.

Males were more likely than females to have heard of electric scooter rideshares, at 29% and 18%, respectively. Adults ages 25-34 were the most aware group, with 29% reporting knowledge of scooter rideshares. In terms of scooter use, as age increased the number of respondents that had never used one of these programs increased.

The safety of riders and those around them were the top two concerns across all adults surveyed. On average, 61% of respondents, regardless of region or environment, reported being “very” or “extremely” concerned about each of these issues.

In urban areas, these were the two most prevalent concerns, with up to 70% of these respondents reporting as such. Suburban respondents’ biggest concerns were the safety of riders and the limited availability of helmets. Those in rural areas were most concerned about the safety of pedestrians (50%) and the potential for scooters to be littered on sidewalks (45%).

Survey findings indicate that the use of ride and bike-share programs is most prevalent in urban areas. In the suburbs, 49% had not used any of these services, followed by 71% of those in rural areas. Thirty-three percent of respondents in urban environments had seen or heard of them. This percentage decreases to 21% in the suburbs and 16% in rural areas.

Bird was the most commonly used electric scooter in urban areas, whereas Lime-S was most popular in the suburbs, and Spin most common in rural areas.  
The survey sample consisted of 1,000 adults nationally balanced by age, gender and region conducted by kNOW, an on-demand survey product from global insights provider Critical Mix.

When thinking about a scooter rideshare, females most valued speed, convenience and cost, while males valued speed, traffic and cost. Across all regions, speed was the most heavily weighted factor in a respondent’s decision to use an electric scooter rideshare, at 55%. Traffic was more important to those in suburban and rural areas than to respondents in urban environments.

Go here for a visual look at the stats.