2024 Volume 15 Pages 3475-3494
Personal Mobility Devices (PMDs) are becoming popular in urban areas worldwide, but there is limited knowledge about their usage. This paper investigates the socio-demographics, usage patterns, and motivations of PMD owners (n=153) in Brisbane and South East Queensland. The PMDs used by the surveyed users include basic e-scooters (n=65), prosumer e-scooters (n=54), e-unicycles (n=12), and skateboards (n=8). The study revealed that cost-effectiveness was the primary motivator for PMD use, particularly for basic e-scooters, which had a higher share of female owners while options with high maximum speed, such as prosumer e-scooters, e-unicycles, and e-skateboards were mostly owned by males. Policymakers can use the classification framework of privately-owned PMDs to design specific policies for each class, including infrastructure provision, speed regulation, and enforcement. These findings provide valuable insights for policymakers to plan for increased PMD uptake and promote sustainable mobility.
