Micromobility versus Driving: How Air Quality Alerts Impact Transportation Choices

Previous studies have shown that responses to information on poor air quality are more discernible on active transport than on driving. However, it is unclear whether the differences in responses stem from the differences between the characteristics of transportation modes or the social context–related factors. We conducted a comparative study to evaluate the effectiveness of air quality alerts in influencing the usage of different transportation modes, namely, micromobility and driving. An examination of over 6.9 million micromobility trips and 3 million traffic counts revealed that usage behaviors on both transportation modes do not change in response to air quality alerts, but both decrease during the daytime of a polluted day. The findings suggest that several social context–related factors matter to the success of air quality alerts, including the overall societal attention/awareness of air quality and the coverage and access to more sustainable transportation modes to empower the public.