Durations of Dockless E-Scooter Trips Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Austin, TX: An Analysis Using Hazard-Based Duration Models

Abstract

The pandemic arising from the 2019 coronavirus disease has significantly affected all facets of human life across the world, including economies and transportation systems, thereby changing people’s travel behaviors. This research was aimed at exploring the relationship between socio-economic factors and e-scooter trip durations before and during the pandemic. We developed a hazard-based duration approach and estimated multiple spatial and non-spatial models on the basis of 2019 and 2020 dockless e-scooter data collected from the City of Austin’s Open Data Portal. The results indicated an overall increase in e-scooter trip durations after the pandemic. Moreover, analysis of variables revealed potential changes in users’ behavior before and during the pandemic. In particular, whereas e-scooter trip durations were found to be positively associated with aggregate travel time to work before the pandemic, this trend was reversed during the pandemic. In addition, during the pandemic, e-scooter travel time was positively correlated with the ratio of individuals with bachelor’s degrees or greater to those with associate degrees or lower. However, no specific pattern was observed before the pandemic. Lastly, the results showed the presence of disparities within the study area; therefore, it is vital to extend e-scooter service areas to cover underserved communities.