Micromobility System Dynamics and Urban Transportation

Micromobility encompasses lightweight, usually electric, personal transport modes such as shared bicycles, e-scooters and e-bikes that serve short-distance trips in urban environments. System dynamics research in this field addresses the interactions among users, infrastructure, vehicle fleets and urban form, examining how supply and demand evolve over space and time. Key themes include safety management, fleet deployment strategies, environmental impacts and integration with existing public transport networks. Empirical analyses frequently draw on spatiotemporal datasets, network modelling and surrogate safety metrics to reveal usage hotspots, modal substitution effects and safety risks. From life-cycle assessments of greenhouse-gas emissions to surveys of pedestrian comfort, studies have highlighted both the potential of micromobility to reduce private-vehicle kilometres and the challenges of regulating shared fleets. Practical applications range from evidence-based policy on parking infrastructure and speed controls to optimisation of fleet distribution for last-mile connectivity. The global significance of micromobility research lies in its ability to inform sustainable urban development, reduce congestion and enhance accessibility while safeguarding vulnerable road users.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Recent studies have adapted established traffic-safety metrics to micromobility contexts by introducing the concept of projected time-to-collision, a near-miss indicator defined as the estimated time until a collision would occur if trajectories remained unchanged. Experimental work involving both isolated interactions and crowd scenarios has demonstrated a strong correlation between this metric and pedestrian perceptions of safety when facing e-scooters head-on, though overtaking manoeuvres showed little subjective impact. Outcomes suggest that projected time-to-collision can serve as a quantitative basis for setting speed limits, designing urban layouts and informing ride-behaviour controls to improve pedestrian comfort without overly constraining vehicle performance.

Micromobility System Dynamics and Urban Transportation publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in micromobility system dynamics and urban transportation across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Micromobility: Lightweight, short-range transport modes such as shared bicycles and e-scooters.
Projected time-to-collision: An estimated time until impact based on current trajectories, used as a near-miss safety metric.
Modal shift: The change in traveller choice from one mode of transport to another, often from private cars to shared services.
Dockless systems: Shared vehicles that can be picked up and left anywhere within a service area, without fixed stations.
Fleet density: The number of shared vehicles available per unit area, influencing availability and usage patterns.

References

1. Pedestrians' safety using projected time-to-collision to electric scooters. Nature Communications (2024).
2. Electric scooter safety: An integrative review of evidence from transport and medical research domains. Sustainable Cities and Society (2023).
3. Are e-scooters polluters? The environmental impacts of shared dockless electric scooters. Environmental Research Letters (2019).
4. Micromobility and public transport integration: The current state of knowledge. Transportation Research Part D Transport and Environment (2020).
5. Explaining shared micromobility usage, competition and mode choice by modelling empirical data from Zurich, Switzerland. Transportation Research Part C Emerging Technologies (2021).