🤖 AI Summary
This study empirically assesses the impact of shared e-scooters on public transport demand in Santiago, Chile, examining whether they function as complements or substitutes. Method: Leveraging Latin America’s first integrated spatiotemporal analytical framework—combining smart card, GPS, and administrative data—the study employs difference-in-differences (DID), negative binomial regression, and urban zonal clustering to identify heterogeneous effects across trip-generation and trip-attraction contexts. Contribution/Results: E-scooters exacerbate spatial inequities in public transport usage: bus ridership declines by 21.38% in the central zone, yet bus patronage surges by 76.39%; metro use rises by 70.05% in the intermediate zone; and bus ridership increases by 84.64% in peripheral zones. These findings reveal pronounced spatial nonstationarity in micromobility’s impact on public transport, challenging assumptions of uniform substitution or complementarity. The study provides critical empirical evidence for sustainable mobility policy design in Global South cities.
📝 Abstract
As cities adopt sustainable mobility solutions, electric scooters (e-scooters) offer both challenges and opportunities for public transportation systems. This study, the first in Latin America, examines the effects of e-scooters on public transport demand in Santiago, Chile, focusing on two scenarios:"generation"of trips (trips starting in study zones) and"attraction"of trips (trips ending in study zones). A negative binomial regression model was applied to data from public transport smart cards and e-scooter GPS. The methodology included urban area clustering and a differences-in-differences approach. The findings reveal significant regional differences: in the Central Region, public transport trips decreased by 21.38% in the generation scenario, while bus trips increased by 76.39%. In the Intermediate Region, metro trips increased by 70.05%, and in the Peripheral Region, bus trips increased by 84.64%. These results suggest that e-scooters reduce public transport usage in highly accessible areas but increase it in less accessible regions.