Skip to Content
Streetsblog Los Angeles home
Log In
Streetsblog USA

Study: Dockless Mobility More Popular with People of Color in D.C.

12:08 PM PST on November 16, 2018

Photo: Nathan Rupert/Flickr/CC

Dockless bike share is doing a better job reaching people of color than traditional city-sponsored bike-sharing systems, according to a new analysis that confirms what many observers have long suspected.

Black residents in D.C. are far more likely to have tried dockless bike share or e-scooters from firms such as Spin, Lime, Bird and Jump than the public bike system, Capital Bikeshare, according to an analysis from the research firm Populus.

Graph: Populus
Graph: Populus

In fact, white and black residents were more likely to have used dockless bikes and scooters than Capital Bikeshare. But for black residents — 47 percent of the population in D.C. — the effect was much larger.

Black residents were 2.6 times more likely to have tried dockless bike share or scooters, compared to white people, who were about 1.2 times more likely. The Populus study did not investigate the reasons for the disparity, but docked bike share stations have traditionally been concentrated in wealthier whiter neighborhoods.

"These services appear to be delivering new options to communities that have been traditionally underserved," Populus CEO Regina Clewlow wrote on Medium.

Capital Bikeshare still carries many more total trips than the dockless companies. But the disproportionate use of bike share by white people and higher-income groups has been a source of concern for the industry.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog Los Angeles

Guest Opinion: Ten Years In, CA Active Transportation Program Lays Bare a Tale of Two Agencies

L.A. County needs to embrace physically-protected bikeways, robust traffic calming around schools, and similarly transformative, safety-focused projects

September 29, 2023

Eyes on the Station: Metro Fortified Turnstiles at MacArthur Park Station

Metro fortified turnstile entrances at MacArthur Park in order to curb fare-evading riders; sometimes this has adverse impacts on fare-paying riders

September 27, 2023
See all posts