North American ridership on shared micromobility devices in 2024 was up 31 percent — 32 percent in the United States — above 2023 levels, according to the sixth annual Shared Micromobility State of the Industry Report by the North American Bikeshare and Scootershare Association (NABSA).
The report, released Thursday, “demonstrates shared micromobilty’s strength, evolution and benefits” in communities across North America, and how it is “an important mode in the public transportation ecosystem,” Sam Herr, NABSA executive director, said during a webinar that day to share results from the study.
Micromobility systems can be found in 415 cities in North America, most in the U.S., with 354 of those hosting a shared bike-share or scooter-share system and many cities offering both. These systems provided some 171 million trips in the U.S. in 2024, on 285,000 vehicles. This is up from 2023, when operators had 241,000 such devices deployed in the U.S.
“Investing in fleets can translate to that higher usage. When you have a vehicle that’s readily accessible, nearby, people ride more. So the closer and more visible shared micromobility is, the more likely it is to be used,” Malia Schilling, senior planner with Toole Design and a member of the research team that produced the report, said during the webinar.
The growing ridership and ubiquity of micromobility systems across U.S. cities reveals an industry that has matured in the last decade into an essential piece of urban transportation, often syncing with public transit and inspiring municipalities to develop infrastructure to support riding, parking and device recharging.
“I think what we’re observing in these numbers is an industry that’s growing, and growing into its own geography,” Elliot Martin, a research and development engineer at the University of California, Berkeley’s Transportation Sustainability Research Center, and also a member of the research team, said Thursday. “We see this as a maturing of the industry, where trip activity and capital investment within the regions that have been operating shared micromobility are starting to pay off in terms of accelerating growth.”
It’s estimated that 35 percent of those trips took the place of a car trip, offsetting 101 million pounds of greenhouse gas emissions, according to the study. Of the riders surveyed, 74 percent reported using shared micromobility to connect to transit, with 22 percent reporting they did so weekly.
The growth of electric bicycles as a portion of micromobility fleets is a trend that keeps growing, according to the study, which found 79 percent of North American systems now include e-devices, and 66 percent of trips taken used e-devices, which includes e-bikes and electric scooters.
Industry officials continue to push for more public-sector investment in micromobility infrastructure or operations.
“All of this really tells us that this investment is important. It’s meaningful. And that more of this meaningful investment is needed,” Herr said.
A successful shared micromobility program, Schilling said, “really needs to have operators and cities working in partnership to understand where are those gaps and shortfalls, and how can we make sure that this program is sustainable in the long run.”
“Agencies and operators need to work hand-in-hand to understand where the support needs are,” she said.
