There were a record 157 million trips on bike and scooter share systems across the U.S. and Canada in 2023 -- up almost 20 percent over the previous year and almost 7 percent higher than the 2019 peak of 147 million. That comes despite rising cost and financing challenges for some systems, according to an annual report from the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO).

The 2023 Shared Micromobility in the U.S. and Canada makes three recommendations for how cities can ensure long-term success of micromobility systems:

- Investing public money in capital and operating costs;
- Eliminating sales tax to bring it in line with other public transportation; and,
- Building infrastructure to safely connect people to where they want to go, through protected bike lane networks and shared bike and scooter paths close to homes and popular destinations.

Trips in the U.S. increased by 16 percent which was driven largely by continued growth of e-bike trips on larger station-based systems. More than 90 percent of all station-based bike share trips took place on 10 systems, with New York City's Citi Bike alone accounting for 35 million of the 81 million trips.

While bike share and scooter share systems in some cities experienced dramatically climbing costs for riders, others folded or had trouble financing operations. Bike share prices are now significantly higher than other public transportation options, according to the report. A typical 30- to 35-minute pay-as-you-go trip on station-based bike share costs an average of $3.85 one way on a pedal bike and $7 or more on an e-bike. A typical bus trip costs in the United States costs less than $2 on average.

Read the complete 22-page report here.