CHICAGO IL – Providing electric scooters to drivers who leave their cars in parking garages can lessen traffic congestion and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, a report issued Thursday (March 7, 2024) indicates.
It describes an experiment, begun in 2022, by the federal Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory in Chicago. It joined forces with a city parking garage operator and non-profit civic group. The three acknowledged earlier studies that showed 25% to 40% of traffic congestion in city centers “is caused by people looking for parking spots.”
That wastes both time and fuel, the three agreed.
Their proposed solution was to pair the off-street parking with the e-scooter rentals. Garage patrons rarely walk more than a quarter- to-half mile from their destinations, they found. With the scooters, which offer the drivers a new element of fun and adventure, customers “are going more places and going farther than they would have otherwise,” a principal in the study noted.
Better still, “the scooters put a smile on the parking customers’ faces,” according to a media release.
To evaluate the program, the team collected data on user interest, distances traveled, and number of trips. The twin payoffs? The garage-scooter combination “reduces carbon emissions and sends people all over the city,” they observed. The habit even persisted during cold weather.
Given the results, the garage operator in 2024 “is expanding its e-scooter fleet and taking on the associated operating and maintenance responsibilities,” it added.
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