Authors: HXH Bao, Y Lim
Year: 2022
Journal / publisher: Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour
DOI: 10.1016/j.trf.2021.12.011
Abstract
This study explores the potential and challenges of applying behavioural interventions to promote micro-mobility adoption. Our online experiments with New York City residents showed that nudges and faming improved respondents’ willingness to adopt e-scooters significantly. More- over, our experiments spanned over the pre-, during- and post- COVID-19 lockdown period in New York City. Findings from this natural experiment revealed that the effect of these behav- ioural interventions varied significantly during the pandemic, likely due to a heightened level of health consciousness and a new perspective regarding social interactions. Behavioural tools cannot be taken off-the-shelf and applied as a blanket policy. Individual and group characteristics have to be assessed to devise the pre-eminent behavioural interventions for a particular target audience. More experiments across a wide range of economic, social, cultural, and political set- tings are needed to guide the application of behavioural interventions in transportation studies.