How do I get from A to B? City dwellers are spoiled for choice when it comes to transportation. In June, the e-scooter became another option, and it has since become well established, as a recent survey shows.
E-scooters have been permitted on German roads for five months. There was much discussion beforehand about the pros, cons, and dangers of electric scooters. In a YouGov survey conducted at the beginning of September, more than one in three pedestrians said they were afraid of e-scooters—the highest rate among all modes of transport.
Beyond subjective perceptions, a survey by the management consultancy 'The Nunatak Group' is now attempting to shed light on the actual use of e-scooters. As part of its 'New Urban Mobility' study, the company surveyed 250 people each in Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, and Frankfurt about their mobility behavior.
E-scooters are particularly popular among younger people
Car sharing from service providers such as Share Now, Flinkster, and Sixt Share topped the list of mobility options used by respondents, with 30 percent. This was followed by bike sharing, offered by MVG and Deutsche Bahn, with 21 percent. 18 percent currently use shared e-scooters. Ride-hailing (e.g., Reach Now, Uber Pop) and ride-pooling (e.g., Isartiger, Clevershuttle) are roughly on par at just under 16 percent. Sharing of traditional (e-)scooters comes in a distant sixth place with 9 percent.
Unsurprisingly, e-scooters are used significantly more frequently by younger respondents than by older ones: 43 percent of 18-25 year-olds ride electric scooters, 29 percent of 26-35 year-olds, 19 percent of 36-45 year-olds, 9 percent of 46-55 year-olds and only 4 percent of those between 56 and 65 years of age.
E-scooter customers are also the most loyal. More than one in four scooter users rides them several times a week. For car sharing, this figure is just over 10 percent. This could be related to the strong interest of young customers in e-scooters and their generally above-average use of sharing services.
Are e-scooters replacing public transport?
Another finding is grist to the mill for critics of the more than 30,000 e-scooters waiting for customers in German cities: E-scooter rides most frequently replace public transport, walking, and riding one's own bicycle. However, one in five people report having left their own car behind to use an e-scooter.
Munich residents want better public transport, more cycle paths — and a city toll
The study participants were given the opportunity to consider which three measures they would take if they were mayor for transport in their city. 63 percent would improve public transport. The initiator of the study, Jérôme Nonnenmacher of Nunatak, also provided Munich Startup with exclusive results from the Munich respondents. At 61 percent, they are somewhat more satisfied with public transport. Better bike paths ranked second on the wish list, with 57 percent of all respondents and 51 percent among Munich residents. In third place in Germany (22 percent) and fifth in Munich (20 percent) is the desire for more charging stations for electric cars. Even more important to Munich residents are a city toll (24 percent) and the conversion of parking spaces into green spaces (20 percent). Presumably due to the high traffic volume in the Bavarian capital, both of these issues are in significantly higher demand than among all respondents (18 and 19 percent, respectively).
There are also differences between the results from Munich and Germany as a whole regarding the choice of mobility services. At 16 percent, Munich residents use bike sharing significantly less frequently than the German average. And even among bike-sharing customers, only 7.5 percent use them several times a week. Nationwide, this figure is twice as high. However, the study does not provide any information on the reasons for the weak demand for shared bikes in Munich.
