Shared micromobility after the boom
Bike sharing, electric scooters and shared micromobility appear on 19 recent papers, mostly in operations research, and the topic is fading, with 2 papers in the last quarter against about 6 per quarter before. Several operators have failed and cities have banned scooters. Which systems survived, and did they replace car trips or walking?
What prompted this
Since October 2025, 19 papers carry a bike-sharing, micromobility, e-scooter or shared-mobility keyword (14 in operations research journals): "bike sharing" on 11, "electric scooters" on 3, "shared micromobility" on 2, "dockless bike-sharing" on 2. Only 2 were published in July–September 2026 against about 6 per quarter earlier.
Questions
- Across cities, which system designs (docked, dockless, publicly subsidized, operator-funded) survived the operator failures of 2022–2024, and at what cost per trip?
- What share of micromobility trips replaced car trips, and did the share change as novelty wore off?
- Did the scooter bans in Paris and elsewhere shift trips to bikes, transit or cars?
Data that could help
Trip data published by operators and cities, operator entries and exits by city, and travel surveys before and after bans.
Next step
Compile the entry and exit of micromobility operators across 50 cities since 2018 and relate survival to the system design and subsidy model.