Who combines shared e-scooters and public transportation? Insights from Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö, Sweden

Abstract

Shared e-scooters have promising potential to solve the problem of first- and last-mile with public transportation. However, it remains unclear how often these modes are combined in practice and which users are most likely to make multimodal trips. We address this research gap by surveying 1269 shared e-scooter users in Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö, Sweden. A binary logistic regression model is estimated to determine the characteristics of users who have made at least one combined trip in the last six months. In addition, an ordinal logistic regression model is estimated to understand the factors that determine whether users exhibit frequent multimodal usage. Similar to other studies, the typical shared e-scooter user in Sweden is a younger, highly educated, well-paid urban man who lives in the city center. Our results suggest, however, that multimodal users could be a contrasting subgroup. In Stockholm, frequent users had higher odds of making a combined trip. However, frequent e-scooter usage did not necessarily lead to more frequent multimodal travel. Users with lower incomes or those living outside the city center had higher odds of combined trips. Users living outside the central operational zone in Stockholm were more than three times as likely to have made a combined trip, while in Gothenburg, such users were more than five times as likely to do so. In contrast, Malmö’s multimodal users aligned more with the typical shared e-scooter profile: users who had combined the modes were under the age of 30, had higher incomes, or were more frequent users. These findings have important policy implications for authorities aiming for better and more equitable multimodal integration of e-scooters and public transportation.