I electric scooters that have populated our cities for some years they are an example of design and usage experience that is substantially discriminatory for women. He says it an investigation by one of the international operators of the sector, VOI, also present in Italy (in Rome, Turin, Milan, Modena, Reggio Emilia and Palermo): it is called Shared e-scooters and gender equity and is a document that collects perceptions and experiences of users to understand how and where the offer of escooters must change to be really useful to everyone.
Made by Gender Equity Commission internal to the Swedish startup, explains why women use these micro-mobility systems less. Research in Paris, for example, had long ago found that 66% of scooter riders are male. These means, in addition to being perceived and designed in a non-universal way, also risk not having any sense in terms of impact on city traffic and on the general change in habits. There is very little previous research on the subject, and the VOI report, based on 5 focus groups held in November 2021 and in a two-week survey last January, it ends with a series of recommendations for making the world of electric scooters fairer.
Interview
More space for women (and sustainability) in Alice Acciarri’s new eBay Italia
by Emanuele Capone
22 Maggio 2022
The main problems of scooters for users
What comes out of the investigation? That women face a large number of obstacles when it comes to renting a scooter. In the United Kingdom, sample country of the document, the road ecosystem is considered hostile, as well as the attitude of the majority of motorists: for 79%, the infrastructural problem is the main obstacle to the use of escooters, with great fear when it comes to driving on a carriageway shared with traditional vehicles. Let alone in contexts like the Italian one, with few cycle paths and often poorly designed (here our video test in Rome). Another problem is the regulatory chaos: it is difficult to understand exactly how and where it is possible to drive the vehicles (between ZTL, pedestrian areas, sidewalks). A further element of distrust, as stated by the interviewees themselves, is the lack of safe spaces in which to practice.
The scooter is designed for the average male
The main problem revolves around the design of the vehicles and the modality of the offer. According to users, the scooters are heavy to maneuver and they have no load capacity. The forced use of a smartphone, with procedures that can sometimes be long and complex, especially if you need to top up credit or set up an account for the first time, is another delicate aspect: “It can take time to unlock the vehicle and often you may feel insecure especially at night if you are on an isolated street or maybe on the edge of a roadway ”, explained one person involved in the focus groups. It is no coincidence that the vision that one has from the outside of this world is of means used mainly by young people and, in particular, by young males.
Returning to the design of scooters, to which the report devotes ample space, the interviewees stressed that their design does not take into due consideration the needs of women and other groups. For example, the ability to carry bags or other items, the weight of the vehicle itself (on average, about 16 kg), the way in which you have to maneuver and manage (for example to put them back on the stand at the end of the stroke) and other characteristics considered to be difficult to say the least. If it is clear that shared scooters cannot offer a solution for everyone, at least not at the moment, on the whole (the testimonies collected tell us this) they are perceived as heavy, difficult to maneuver, useless in terms of load but also to carry simple accessories: all aspects that, according to the survey respondents, end up excluding many women as well as people with disabilities or older people. And turning escooters into big toys for young males that most of the time (another result of the survey) they do not use them sensibly, for work or to cover the so-called last mile between public transport and the office, but for leisure.
VOI’s own survey recognizes that the typical model of scooter today in service on the streets of our cities is designed “for an average male”. To begin with, small tricks would be enough (a basket, a small towbar for children’s bikes) or more complex strategies to rent them without worrieshow to concentrate more accessible and comfortable e-scooters than standard ones in a specific area of a city.
He tests
Are the new Dott ebikes really the future of urban mobility?
by Giacomo Barbieri
April 14, 2022
Recommendations to governments and companies
Overall, beyond the design of the means and taking into consideration all the difficulties expressed by the women heard, the recommendations that emerge from the survey are of various kinds. From those for governments, which should make the rules for circulation uniform and clearer, to those for local administrations and companies, which should think of test areas for those wishing to learn, imagine an inclusive design and richer sharing services, able to accommodate the requests of different types of users. Again: inform users more precisely, think of dedicated systems and areas for night rental and then (but this is a much larger game) to reimagine the city’s road systems at their foundations, to be sewn around pedestrians and new transport formulas, no longer motor vehicles. Finally, according to YOU, all operators in the sector should disseminate transparent and accessible data every year on who and how they use their scooters, precisely to understand if they are on the right path to close this other gender gap.