Effects of Human Factors on Public Use of Standing-Type Personal Mobility Vehicle

Abstract

To significantly reduce the occurrence of severe traffic accidents, reducing the number of vehicles in urban areas should be considered. Personal mobility is essential for realizing this reduction, which requires consideration of the last-/first-mile problem. The overall objective of our research is to solve this problem using standing-type personal mobility vehicles as transportation devices; however, to evaluate the feasibility of such vehicles as future mobility devices, it is necessary to evaluate their operation under real-world conditions. Therefore, in this study, experimental and survey data relating to the velocity, stability, safety, and comfort of a standing-type personal mobility device are obtained to evaluate its performance in three different scenarios. The results show that the personal mobility vehicle is socially well received and can be safely operated on sidewalks, irrespective of the gender or age of the driver; moreover, the results suggest that subjects who routinely use a bicycle are adept at avoiding and absorbing the impacts of small holes and bumps, thereby yielding reduced acceleration values (in all directions) and pitch, roll, and yaw rates. This is anticipated to benefit the future development of personal mobility devices and help realize effective and accessible public transport systems, as well as reduce the number of vehicles in urban areas.

Attitudinal Factors Associated with the Use of Bicycles and Electric Scooters

“…Hasegawa et al [9] and Ulrich [19] describe PMVs as vehicles that utilise an electric motor to assist human beings in their personal travel on short-distance trips. PMVs currently function as auxiliary vehicles for daily use, offering users lower fuelling and maintenance costs and shorter travel times, allowing, in turn, a reduction in the use of cars in congested urban environments [6]. To learn about the use of the new micromobility technologies, some authors have studied the associated factors that consider the attitudes of users after a user experience [20,21] as well as public opinion, presenting the real needs of users [12].…”

“…To evaluate these factors, the TAM considers another construction that affects the intention of adopting innovations, i.e., the consumers' perceived usefulness, which affects the attitude toward the use of technologies such as PMVs [6]. Subjective norms and perceived control also influence the intention of adopting new modes of transport models for short distances, and perceived control is affected by values [15].…”

“…Additionally, technologies have emerged that use alternative fuels and can counteract such effects [3][4][5]. These technologies seek to reduce the use of cars in urban areas; cars are usually the cause of traffic problems and are a technology that part of the population (not all) can substitute with public transport or nonconventional means of transport [6].…”

A Literature Review of Emerging Research Needs for Micromobility—Integration through a Life Cycle Thinking Approach

“…Fewer than 10% cited increased safety as a benefit of riding an e-scooter [81]. Perhaps because, as the study of Hashimoto et al [82] reveals, more data is required to fully evaluate the safety of PMDs' co-existence with other vehicles.…”

The nudge effect to change the previous users' misbehaviors to stewardship behavior in personal mobility platforms

“…Notably, PMVs provide a variety of practical and environmentally friendly benefits while resolving traffic congestion issues (Choi et al ., 2021). In addition, the PMV industry is anticipated to grow as a first- and last-mile mobility solution for multimodal transportation in the era of Mobility as a Service (MaaS) based on autonomous driving (Hashimoto et al ., 2020). Specifically, the shared PMV industry is anticipated to reach $73.2bn by 2030 (Grand View Research, 2022).…”