Clutter from parked e-scooters: Effects of dedicated spaces

Abstract

Shared e-scooters are popular, but improperly parked e-scooters impede access for pedestrians. Policymakers need knowledge about the impact and limitations of parking measures to reduce clutter. This paper evaluates pilots that introduced dedicated e-scooter parking places in areas with free-floating parking. Parking racks were implemented in a borough in Oslo, while painted spaces were introduced in the city centres of Oslo and Trondheim. The parking measures were evaluated using video recordings, GPS-data and surveys. Results show that about two thirds of riders ending their trip in the vicinity of a parking measure park in or near the measure. The parking becomes more concentrated around the measures and there is a clear reduction in the share of e-scooters in the area that impede access for pedestrians. The large variations from site to site indicate that the exact placement of the parking measure is important. The effect of voluntary parking measures is greatest in the immediate vicinity and appears to fade away about 70 m from the measures. Non-riders experience parked e-scooter as an obstacle to a significantly greater extent than riders do, and there was no significant decrease in perceptions of e-scooters as an obstacle after a parking rack was placed. Overall, voluntary parking measures appear to improve parking behaviour in the immediate vicinity, but do not eliminate problematic parking.