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The scooter gains ground to the car in urban mobility, according to a study

Voi Technology is celebrating its birthday. On its fourth anniversary, it has published a world survey, which provides new perspectives on the impact of micromobility services on car use in cities. The annual survey, conducted 10,000 users from across the continent, shows that a 60% of scooter users in Spain they have drastically or totally replaced their use of the car thanks to the availability of micromobility, including scooters.

Cyclists of all ages use scooters and replace car trips

The traditional way of measuring whether shared micromobility replaces cars, as almost all studies published to date agree (Wang et al. 2022), is to ask users which means of transport they use. they would have used during their last trip if there were no scooters.

But, were some of these substituted trips part of a trip combined with another means of transport, which helped to replace the car? In fact, more than 55% of Voi users around the world claim to combine the use of scooters with public transport, which is the most common means with which scooters are combined, showing that shared micromobility is complementing rather than competing with public transport.

18% of users (the European average is 25%) exclusively use scooters for their journeys. In this way, micromobility is helping to solve the challenge of the first/last mile of public transport in cities across Europe.

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A truly efficient alternative for suburbanites

Scooters are being embraced across Europe by users of all ages. Close to half of the respondents aged over 45 say they have significantly reduced car use since using shared micromobility. The adoption of scooters by older age groups demonstrates that micromobility is suitable for all ages, giving people options where they would have previously taken a car.

In addition, there are indications that the use of scooters is especially reducing the use of the car in the outskirts of cities. In fact, more than 60% of users who live less than 30 minutes by public transport from the city center have reduced their car use thanks to micromobility services. Thus, on average, 14% of Voi trips replace a car trip with a scooter trip. This change is helping to reduce traffic congestion, as well as the production of CO2 and PM2.5, contributing to realizing cities made for living.

Charlotte Serres, general director of Voi in Spain, France and Belgium, states that: «Since Voi was founded, our mission has been to help transform the way people move around their cities to reduce dependency on the car and reclaim public spaces for living. We are starting to see a significant impact, as more and more people use scooters in conjunction with public transport, and furthermore, people of all ages find a flexible alternative to car travel or even ditch the car altogether. Micromobility services like Voi help reduce air pollution and harmful emissions, making our cities happier places to live. Even with over 125 million trips and 100 cities under our belt, we’ve only scratched the surface of what’s possible with shared micromobility and there are even greater benefits for Europe’s cities, their air and their quality of life as We continue on this journey.”

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