Transportation accounts for almost one-quarter of greenhouse gas emissions in a Canada. In Metro Vancouver, around 40 per cent of emission are from transportation.

In Canadian cities, there is more to transportation than greenhouse gases: urban air pollution, exposure of roadside population to toxic pollutants, traffic, congestion and road safety hazards. In 2015, transportation related air pollution was associated with over 1,200 premature deaths in Canada.

As Canada aims to reduce emissions, what can cities do to create a transportation system that is greener, more sustainable, comprehensive and equitable?

Shared micromobility systems, such as bike and scooter rental programs, offer an interesting transportation solution. Users do not need to own a vehicle, and they do not have to worry about parking, storage, security or maintenance. These programs are easily accessible and they are particularly well-suited for short trips in dense urban areas.

How much can shared micromobility reduce emissions, and what is its broader potential as an urban transportation option? To answer these questions, we recently looked into Vancouver’s bike-share program. We used a trip diary survey by the city’s transit operator, TransLink, to understand the mode choice behaviour.

Using data from actual bike-share trips and combining it with several transportation and emissions models, we arrived at some interesting results.

Our analysis........

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