Elsparkcykelns roll i Malmö, Lund och Helsingborg - Analys ur ett miljö-, socialt och ekonomiskt perspektiv

Sammanfattning: The purpose with the thesis project is to analyse the function of E-scooters from the three parts that comes with sustainability, which is economic, environment and social sustainability. Because it is a new vehicle, it comes with a large amount of deficits when it comes to regulation and knowledge. To get a deeper awareness about the consequences is the reason why sustainability is applied in this thesis. A comparison has been done to conclude if the E-scooters is a sustainable solution for society. The thesis has been done with help of surveys and interviews. Two different surveys have been done conducted in total. The first survey is about the use of E-scooters and the second one is about preferences. The surveys were structured with an amount of questions and assertions. Where the participants had to answer with given information for each question and assertion. The participants from the surveys were allowed to create their own image of the function of E-scooters in the society. In one of the surveys the participants were to be held in four different situations, where the E-scooter faces other vehicles. The reason why this was done, was to figure out what kind of travels the E-scooter replaces. The surveys were out on a digital platform during spring 2020. The reason why the surveys were done digitally was because there was not a possibility for us to do this study outside. In the thesis were three administrations from Malmö, Lund and Helsingborg interviewed and asked about the situation regarding to E-scooters for each community. The interviews were done during spring 2020. The interviews were done to get a brighter picture on how the communities are working with E-scooters. The administrations were asked the same questions without any preparations. Each interview was held approximative during one hour, so the administrations had a chance to give a good answer. The results show that the establishment of E-scooters has brought both positive and negative effects to society. From a social point of view there are some deficits which have caused noticeable consequences on the urban environment. One of the reasons why it has been an issue is because the E-scooter is currently classified as a bicycle. From an environmental perspective the results show that E-scooters are merciful to the environment during operation. E-scooters are also causing reductions of noise pollution and emissions. From an LCA perspective the E-scooter has on long term bad influence on the environment. From an economics point of view are the leasing companies generating taxes. Currently there is discussion about how the communities are allowing the companies having their E-scooters on the community’s property for free. The results from the surveys show that the participants believe that the E-scooters are time efficient and an accessible vehicle. It seems that the travels done with E-scooters are travels done in a time interval between 5-20 minutes. According to the preference survey it shows that the participants do not choose E-scooters over walks, the bike or public transport. Conclusion: The social aspect: • All of the administrations seem the have a good communication with all of the leasing companies in each community. Affected communities consider it important that the companies are aware of the changes that are on the way from the politicians. • The accessibility in the street scene is restricted for persons with reduced vision as a consequence of the mismanagement of E-scooters. • What has been said in our interview is that the communities have thought about sending requirements regarding E-scooters during the summer 2020. But none of the administrations could share their requirements to us, because the documents regarding that are not determined. The economic aspect: • The conclusions from the surveys show that E-scooters outcompetes walks-, bus- and bike travels to a certain degree. • What has been told is that the communities can’t do anything about the wrong parked E-scooters. The environmental aspect: • It has been hard to define it the E-scooters are a non-polluting vehicle, as the companies are stating. The reason why it has been hard, is because we have not done any interviews with the companies. From our literary studies it has been confirmed that there are numbers on the environment impact from a life cycle point of view. Which the companies do not share with the consumers. • From an environmental point of view are the maintenance of the E-scooters looking brighter for the future according to the administrations.