We estimated the demand elasticity of deployed e-scooter vehicles by comparing actual demand (e-scooter usage) with supply dimensions (vehicles deployed). The study used almost a year-long geographically disaggregated e-scooter trip summary data and the location of available e-scooters that updates approximately every five minutes from Nashville, Tennessee. We found that the demand for e-scooter vehicle deployment is inelastic, suggesting that e-scooter trips increase at a lower rate than the increase in e-scooter vehicles deployed. The service providers with large fleet sizes (>500) have a demand elasticity of e-scooter deployment that is 1.4 times higher than that of medium fleet-sized service providers (250-500) and 3.5 times higher than that of small fleet-sized service providers (<250). These findings could be helpful for city governments to me identify the optimal number of service providers and fleet sizes to permit so that demand is fulfilled without an oversupply of e-scooter vehicles in public spaces.

Presented at:
Transportation Research Board 101st Annual Meeting 2021, Washington, D.C.