Pragmatism, not ideology: drivers of e-bike sharing usage intensity

Source abstract

What drives usage intensity among registered e-bike sharing system (EBSS) users – distinguishing power users from dormant registrants – remains underexplored despite its importance for system viability. We link survey responses from 1,844 registered users to their individual trip histories within an operational dataset of 1.4 million trips from free-floating S-Pedelec and dock-based e-bike sharing systems operating concurrently in Basel, Switzerland. Using Gaussian Mixture Model clustering and an ordered logit model, we find that usage is highly concentrated (Gini = 0.77) and primarily substitutes public transport. Pro-environmental self-identity negatively associates with high-intensity user (“power-user”) status. Instead, intensive use is associated with multimodal integration and perceived functional superiority over public transport. System design distinguishes two distinct pragmatic archetypes: dock-based “routine optimizers” and free-floating “flexibility maximizers”. These findings suggest EBSS policy should emphasize multimodal integration and service reliability calibrated to EBSS’s genuine but bounded role in sustainable urban mobility.