MOBILITY BY E-BIKE STUDY

Share your trips with transportation researchers to grow knowledge about e-bike mobility and sustainability.

We're seeking e-bike users from all over the U.S. to join a new research project led by John MacArthur of Portland State University and Chris Cherry of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. They're looking at the sustainability effects of e-bikes and utilitarian travel behavior of e-bike users, including origin, destination, route, time, speed, mode replacement, and trip purpose. Passively share your trips with us - just plug in a dongle, download our app, and ride like you normally do. The study is open to U.S.-based participants who ride an e-bike with a Bosch onboard computer, and use an iPhone.

Questions? See our Frequently Asked Questions. To learn more and participate, visit the Mobility By E-Bike Study project website.

HOW DOES THE STUDY WORK?

1) Instrumentation

Researchers developed a low-impact instrumentation platform that leverages and merges the unique capabilities of e-bike and smartphone sensors. This technology relies on communication between the e-bike and smartphone via Bluetooth. Supplemental user feedback will be collected when needed.

2) Behavior

Using the instrumentation platform, collect travel behavior data of real e-bike users throughout the country. Travel behavior data includes origin, destination, route, time, and speed information for trips taken with the e-bike. Researchers will create travel behavior models based on the data collected, and assess differences between various metro areas.

3) Sustainability

Finally, evaluate the sustainability of e-bikes based on travel behavior models and mode substitution surveys. Mode substitution refers to a mode that would have been taken had the e-bike not been available. This gives us information about avoided greenhouse gas emissions due to the use of an e-bike.

This study is funded by the National Science Foundation and Bosch. The research is conducted by a multidisciplinary team of researchers at Portland State University, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and University of Pittsburgh. Outreach supported by the Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) at PSU.