Is riding an e-scooter a physical activity?

E-scooter and e-bike share-hire schemes have been introduced in UK cities. These schemes are being promoted as alternatives to driving a car, but do they improve the health of the people who use them?

Our research has already shown that riding an e-bike requires enough physical effort to improve a person’s health. However, we do not know how much energy a person uses when they travel by e-scooter. Having this information would tell us whether e-scooters can help people meet the government’s physical activity guidelines.

Project aims

In this project we will evaluate how much energy a person uses when travelling on an e-scooter which is part of a share-hire scheme.

This research is part of a wider project to understand how e-bike and e-bike plus e-scooter share-hire schemes impact public health, social, economic and environmental factors. It will look at the e-scooter and e-bike hire scheme in Bristol and the e-bike hire scheme in Leeds.

The wider project aims to understand several aspects of the share-hire schemes:

• Changes in people’s physical activity and travel mode when an e-bike share-hire scheme is introduced into cities with and without prior e-scooter hire schemes
• Users’ knowledge, perceptions and use of the schemes and strategies that could increase use across all socio-economic groups
• The energy a person uses when riding an e-scooter
• Carbon savings
• Collision risk
• Costs and benefits of the schemes from a public sector perspective

What we hope to achieve

We aim to produce guidance for policymakers and service providers on the use of e-bike and e-scooter share-hire schemes, in collaboration with policymakers, service-users and residents.