A preliminary analysis over the factors related with the possession of an electric bike

In the wide framework of sustainable mobility, the electric bike is gaining nowadays more and more popularity. Because of its higher speed and longer reach, the e-bike could be an attractive alternative to the car. Through an online survey,together with a GPS tracking campaign and a weekly travel diary, conducted in the city of Ghent we define the profile of the e-bike users (age, income, ownership) and analyze their mobility habits (distance travelled, purpose of the trip, etc). The initial results obtained from an online survey show how the e-bike is highly used for commuting trips while for more occasional trips (at most once per week) the car is the preferred alternative. The GPS data allows us to confirm the high e-bike usage assumption for the commuting trips. An analysis of the changes in the mobility habits after the acquisition of the e-bike shows how the e-bike has mainly incorporated the trips performed by bike while also causing an increase of some trips’ frequency.status: accepte