Doctoral Dissertations

Yi WenFollow

Date of Award

5-2024

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Civil Engineering

Major Professor

Christopher R. Cherry

Committee Members

Candace E. Brakewood, Lee D. Han, David R. Bassett, Hamparsum Bozdogan

Abstract

Electric scooters (e-scooters) have reached a wide popularity since launch in 2017. Key questions around their mobility, safety and sustainability impacts have been raised and partially addressed by the existing literature. However, the physical activity aspects of riding an e-scooter have not been assessed. We recruited 20 subjects from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville network to measure the physical and muscle activity of riding an e-scooter, in comparison to walking and driving, the two common substitutes by e-scooters on a designated route. We used Cosmed Fitmate PRO for the physical activity measurement and the Delsys EMGworks Acquisition Software for the EMG data. Our results show that riding an e-scooter cannot provide moderate-intensity physical activity (MET=2.14) and should not be considered as active transportation, even when riding on uphill segments. However, it does provide more muscle activities compared to driving especially in the upper limb muscle group. We found that riding an e-scooter provides less physical activity than walking but more than driving both at the 95% confidence level. Policies that concern health should target at replacing car trips (driving and ride-hailing) with e-scooters without interfering the walking, biking and other active modes.

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