Assessment of travel behavior dynamics among young demographic for different trip purposes of shared micro-mobility services

Shared transportation services are becoming progressively prominent in cities and urban environments, where shared micro-mobility services such as shared bikes, e-bikes, and e-scooters increase their uptake, especially among young people. However, the majority of the previous studies evaluated the shared micro-mobility services distinctly, overlooking their potential interdependencies. Hence, understanding these interrelationships and examining how the trip frequency of shared micro-mobility services is associated for different trip purposes is essential for designing tailored policy interventions addressing specific user needs. What is more, previous research often treats young people as a homogeneous demographic group, thereby neglecting the heterogeneity in behaviors and preferences within this demographic group. Therefore, to address these gaps, this study evaluates a large sample of university-affiliated young individuals with the goal of uncovering heterogeneity in their adoption and use of shared micro-mobility services. Particularly, three latent class models are developed to classify distinct user groups based on different trip purposes – intra-university trips, commuting trips, and trips regardless of trip purpose – with the objective of contributing to the state-of-the-art by yielding heterogeneous user behaviors in an empirical setting, where people predominantly rely on their private vehicles. Lastly, the findings could highlight diverse user patterns and provide recommendations for policymakers and transportation service providers. These insights aim to support the heterogeneous travel needs of the younger demographic, while also fostering the broader adoption of shared micro-mobility services.