Half as many e-scooters are used as bikes near University of Bristol, research finds
The numbers have come out in-time for the tendering process for a long-term scheme to be run across the West of England
Last updated 24th Nov 2022
Around half as many people use e-scooters in and around the University of Bristol as those who use bikes, according to a new study.
In partnership with the university in a first-of-its-kind piece of research, VivaCity’s AI sensors recorded 523 e-scooters on average per day throughout the period compared to 1,054 cyclists.
These stats come as the tendering process for the next operator of the regions e-bikes is officially open, as the rental trials with the current operator, Voi, are set to end this month.
Following the tendering process for the next operator, the next term of operation is set to start in 2023.
In their study, VivaCity created a bank of anonymous and real-time data, thanks to installing a number of sensors in and around the University of Bristol's campus.
When looking at e-scooter usage week-on-week, from when the scheme started at the end of August, the daily number of e-scooters recorded rose throughout September to its highest levels in the first week of October, peaking on Friday the 14th at almost 700.
This increase aligns with the start of the new University term.
Since the University of Bristol’s induction week from the 19th of September and the start of term, weekly e-scooter levels have remained stable between 3,700 and 4,100.
At the weekend, average counts in October showed levels of e-scooters were almost the same as cyclists, even peaking above cyclist levels in the early afternoon hours before dropping off after 18:00.
The sensors were also able to identify where e-scooters are used in the road space. More than 96% of e-scooters were recorded on the carriageway and 19 e-scooters were detected on the pavements on an average day. The research showed a lower proportion of people using e-scooters are using the pavement compared to cyclists, sitting at 3.6% vs 5.5% respectively.
Rob Stait, Director at VivaCity Labs, said: "We conducted research earlier in the summer and have monitored it over a three-month period in and around the campus at the University of Bristol. What's interesting for us is that the adoption is consistent, and are becoming part of people's commutes.
"What we're able to tell is where they are on the road space - addressing safety concerns, telling us how many are on the roads - and what we're seeing is e-scooters around uni are 'more safe' in terms of staying on the roads than bikes.
"Part of it will be because a lot of them are from the council-sanctioned operators, and there will be strict rules about their usage - but our sensors capture all e-scooters, and we can infer from the trends that they peak between commuter hours. People are using them to get about - and are using them instead of driving cars, using public transport... but there is less of a drop-off of e-scooters in the middle of the day, unlike bikes.
"E-scooters are seen as more convenient, so that's a benefit to the economy, potentially, as people move about more during the day - and it's now clear they're certainly not a fad, either.
"We're detecting far more e-scooters on the roads than there are Government-sanctioned on the roads. There is a great deal of sense in legitimising that use, and trying to make sure rules are stuck by, and plans are in place to allow people to use them more.
"The biggest questions that need answering are how it impacts other people on the roads - and those are the questions we're trying to answer with our study, in partnership with the University of Bristol."
All of this information is said to help fill the 'data gap' on e-scooter use, helping to enable local authorities to develop a clearer picture of how, when, and where they are used.
Dr Nikolai Bode, lead researcher at University of Bristol, said: "Our aim is to understand general trends in uptake of e-scooters in terms of volumes, peak times and where in the road space e-scooters are used. In addition, we are interested in exploring interactions between e-scooters and other road users, in particular pedestrians.
“From these initial findings, for example, we can see that a low proportion of e-scooters are using the pavement and we can make the assessment that this is linked to most e-scooters using the cycle lane along Park Row eastbound leading towards Bristol city centre.”
You can read more about the study here.
You can find out more about VivaCity and its sensors here.