Learn how the West of England’s e-scooter trial is reducing carbon emissions and promoting sustainable travel.
To support a green restart of local travel following the first pandemic lockdown in 2020, the Department for Transport approved the introduction of rental e-scooter trials in certain areas across the UK.
As one of four Future Transport Zones, the West of England’s trial is part of wider plans to use the latest and most innovative technology for creating convenient, accessible alternatives to car travel.
Fast becoming one of the most popular e-scooter schemes in the UK, the scheme has continued to evolve and in 2023, e-bikes and cargo bikes were added to the fleet to create the region’s Integrated Micromobility Service.
To date, the scheme has facilitated 14 million trips with users travelling 36 million kilometres. Studies indicate up to 30 per cent of these trips could have replaced a car journey. For the 4.15 million rides in Bristol during 2021, the carbon dioxide reduction equivalent could be up to 238 tonnes.
Encouraging modal shift: positive impacts
We worked in close collaboration with the West of England Combined Authority (WECA) and the trial operator to ensure the service was convenient and affordable so that local communities were more inclined to swap a car journey for an e-scooter or e-bike journey.
An independent monitoring and evaluation exercise highlighted that significantly more carbon emission reductions were capable with greater modal shift away from cars.
The next phase of the trial is to gain further insights through monitoring and evaluation and ensure the scheme continues to help more people travel sustainably – in turn contributing to the region’s target of becoming net zero by 2030.
Our project team continues to work closely with WECA and the operator by providing contract management support, operational strategy support and digital tool development.
The project data highlights how the scheme creates other positive impacts beyond reducing carbon emissions. In-depth interviews of e-scooter users revealed:
- E-scooters had become the first mode of choice for travel within Bristol for some users.
- Seven in 10 of survey respondents also noted that the e-scooters contributed to their wellbeing.
- Many claimed that they chose e-scooters over other modes because it was less stressful, faster and more convenient.
- 30 per cent of users indicated an e-scooter replaces a car, taxi or ride-hail journey.
Embracing the future of transport
As part of this programme, our future mobility experts are also collaborating with WECA on other schemes that embrace the future of transport.
These include:
- Mobility Hubs, which are trialling more community-focused transport interchanges.
- Mobility as a Service, which streamlines integrated journey planning and ticketing onto one smartphone app.
- Demand Responsive Transport (DRT), which is replacing traditional fixed bus routes by enabling drivers to be more agile and dynamic about where people are picked up enroute.