Impact of Climate and Weather Variables on Emerging Micromoblity options (Bikeshare and E-Scooter) in the South-Central United States

As transportation infrastructure evolves, bikeshare programs, e-bikes, and escooters have become vital components. These systems require substantial infrastructure, including docking stations, pavements, sensors, and other elements. Cities invest in this infrastructure with the expectation of significant returns, such as climate mitigation through reduced greenhouse gas emissions, less pollution like reduced surface ozone, decreased traffic congestion, and improved health outcomes for riders. Therefore, increasing the usage of these transportation modes is crucial for cities. However, future climate conditions, particularly hotter temperatures and more intense rainfall, may impact ridership patterns. The aim of this pilot study is to examine how extreme temperatures and precipitation affect bikeshare system usage, including travel time and ridership, and then to use the relationships built to project how climate change is expected to affect future ridership. The study will focus on cities within the Southern Plains Transportation Center (SPTC) region. The results will provide community and city planners with essential insights into the challenges and opportunities for enhancing or modifying infrastructure to support these emerging transportation modes in the face of climate change. The objective is to develop relationships between bikeshare usage and both temperature and precipitation and apply those relationships to downscaled climate projections from the South-Central Climate Adaptation Science Center (CASC) to project how bikeshare usage is expected to change with increasing temperatures and heavy precipitation events. Although micromobility systems are viewed as transformative for transportation infrastructure, it is possible that their usage will be limited as environmental conditions worsen. Therefore, this study attempts to synthesize the results of this analysis and past literature to develop policy recommendations to optimize micromobility infrastructure in the SPTC region as the climate changes. For instance, policy options may include better shelters for micromobility infrastructure or increased tree canopy for bike lanes and sidewalks. The study will be carried out through the following detailed tasks. Task 1: Conduct a comprehensive review of existing literature on micromobility, temperature and precipitation, climate change, and urban transportation. Task 2: Identify gaps in the current research as related to micromobility usage and weather conditions. Task 3: Gather bikeshare and e-scooter usage data from service providers and municipal transportation departments in selected cities in SPTC region. Task 4: Collect historical climate data from Daymet Version 4 and downscaled climate projections from the South Central CASC. Task 5 Quality assure and integrate the collected datasets to ensure consistency and accuracy and conduct data aggregation for and re-gridding to a 5-km grid with daily data. Task 6: Identify and select appropriate statistical, AI, or machine learning methods for developing relationships during the historical period on the impact of climate variables on travel ridership, trip duration, travel type and time. Task 7: Develop the predictive model and apply it to climate projection data for midcentury and end-of-century. Task 8: Compare how micromobility transportation systems have been used during the historical period with that projected for mid-century and end-of-century. Task 9: Based on the study results, develop policy recommendations for optimizing micromobility programs for each study location. Task 10: Share research findings through academic publications, conferences, and workshops. Task 11: Engage with stakeholders, including city officials and transportation agencies, to discuss the implementation of recommendations.

• Record URL:
  • https://www.sptc.org/cy2-ou-13

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $86,801.00
• Contract Numbers:

  CY2-OU-13

  69A3552348306

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology

  University Transportation Centers Program
  Department of Transportation
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Managing Organizations:

  Southern Plains Transportation Center

  University of Oklahoma
  202 W Boyd St, Room 213A
  Norman, OK  United States  73019
• Project Managers:

  Dunn, Denise

• Performing Organizations:

  University of Oklahoma, Norman

  School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science
  202 West Boyd Street, Room 334
  Norman, OK  United States  73019
• Principal Investigators:

  McPherson, Renee

  Omidi, Hananeh

• Start Date: 20241001
• Expected Completion Date: 20250930
• Actual Completion Date: 0
• USDOT Program: University Transportation Centers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Bicycles; Climate change; Forecasting; Micromobility; Scooters; Travel demand; Weather conditions
• Geographic Terms: Oklahoma; South Central United States
• Subject Areas: Environment; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Planning and Forecasting; Policy; Terminals and Facilities; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01941681
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Southern Plains Transportation Center
• Contract Numbers: CY2-OU-13, 69A3552348306
• Files: UTC, RIP
• Created Date: Jan 1 2025 4:04PM