Environment: ENEA, in Rome a potential 20% of electric micro-mobility

A survey^[1] conducted by ENEA, in collaboration with the universities "Roma Tre" and "Roma Tor Vergata" on a sample of 240,000 cars^[2], for a total of 9 million movements monitored, showed that in Rome, 20% of car trips could be replaced by electric bikes and scooters from Monday to Friday, while the use of private vehicles during rush hour could be reduced by 10% by using metro or train in combination with private electric scooters that can be transported on board.

"Our objective is to identify car trips that could be covered by new forms of electric micro-mobility," said Carlo Liberto, researcher at the ENEA Laboratory for Sustainable Mobility Systems and Technologies. “We started by setting two thresholds for the maximum distance that electric vehicles could travel, 6 kilometers for bikes and 3 kilometers for scooters, considering the characteristics of the infrastructure, accessibility and costs of sharing services, in different urban areas and  that those users who move in areas with a prevalence of cycle paths or low-speed roads will be more inclined to adopt electric micro-mobility solutions, where the perception of safety is greater”, said Liberto.

ENEA researchers developed a new index, called the Micromobility Compatibility Index (MCI), which measures the potential compatibility of road infrastructures with micromobility means (especially e-bikes and scooters) for the entire metropolitan area of Rome divided into about 1,400 zones. The index showed that Rome has good potential for alternative mobility, even if marked differences emerged: some areas showed a low value due to lack of road infrastructures to support active mobility^[3], others showed a high value due to the presence of green areas with many pedestrian and cycle paths.

Considering the travel solution that provides for the combination of scooter and public transport, the highest percentages of potential demand for micro-mobility are recorded along the B1 and C lines of the metro.

 “These findings could be useful to a shared micromobility provider to better evaluate in which areas of the city and even at which subway stops to offer bicycles and electric scooters. On the other hand, the administration would have a map with the areas most in need of infrastructural interventions to offer citizens other forms of more sustainable mobility ", pointed out Francesco Vellucci, head of the ENEA Systems and Technologies for Sustainable Mobility Laboratory.

The approach adopted allows to apply the study to all cities with databases on individual mobility, road infrastructure and transport services, identifying the urban areas with the greatest potential for micro-mobility. "More accurate estimates of the potential market will require specifically designed sample surveys on factors and personal characteristics of the user, like age, gender, income, 'green' behaviour, mobility and lifestyle needs" , said Vellucci. "In Italy - he concluded - 32% of trips are made by micro-mobility and active mobility: they certainly cannot completely replace private vehicles but they can help public transport curb traffic congestion, pollution and improve the quality of life".