Research project
EBIS
E-Biking in Switzerland
E-Biking in Switzerland
E-bikes are becoming increasingly popular in Switzerland. Sales figures have been growing rapidly since 2015, especially since the onset of the Corona pandemic. The EBIS (E-Biking in Switzerland) project serves to investigate the impact of this trend on CO2 emissions in the transport sector. For this purpose, the transport behavior of a representative sample of cyclists in Switzerland is made using a combination of GPS tracking and surveys. The project assesses the current situation and improves the current knowledge about the modal shift enabled by e-biking. It examines which trips are made with which modes of transportation, with a particular focus on bicycles, cars, and public transportation. In addition, a route choice analysis is performed to provide information for future measures to promote cycling. Finally, different scenarios for the potential for CO2 emission reductions by e-biking in Switzerland are calculated.
2022 - 2024
EBIS is a joint project of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH) and the University of Basel.
The project is funded by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE).
The aim of the project is to gain knowledge about the mobility behavior of e-bike and bicycle riders according to the latest scientific findings. The findings should contribute to the promotion of cycling.
To participate in the smartphone study, you must:
The survey is available in English, German and French.
The first online survey for EBIS takes about 15 minutes. Afterwards, you may be invited to the smartphone study and will receive more information about the further course of the study.
Yes, but the smartphone study is of particular interest for our research questions.
No. To participate in the smartphone study, you first have to fill in the survey. Thereafter you will be automatically forwarded to the registration for the smartphone study, if you fulfil the inclusion criteria.
In total approx. 2 hours.
The smartphone study lasts 4 or 10 weeks, depending on the study protocol.
The smartphone study starts for you when your first journey is recorded by the app.
No. A start is possible until the target number of participants is reached.
We recommend that you keep your smartphone switched on and tracking active throughout the duration of the study. Days on which we were able to locate you in Switzerland for less than 12 hours are treated by us as incomplete tracking days.
Deactivating the tracking, logging out of the app or switching off the smartphone may negatively affect the quality of the study results.
The impact of the app on your smartphone's performance depends heavily on the exact phone model and operating system. Unfortunately, this is out of our control. We recommend that you charge your smartphone when you are not on the move, e.g. at home or at work, rather than switching it off. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.
In this study, we mainly consider trips that you make in Switzerland. If you are traveling soon, you can simply install the app and start tracking when you return.
This study requires you to be actively tracking in Switzerland on a regular basis during the two-month smartphone study. If you intend to travel abroad and will return before 01.11.2022, you can simply install the app and start the tracking when you return. If you intend to travel abroad for more than 2 weeks during the two-month study, we recommend you do not participate in the smartphone study.
The participant ID breaks the link between data and study participants. The researchers directly involved in the study can link participants to their participant ID, however, this is not possible for third parties. This pseudonymisation makes it possible for the study to link responses from the surveys with the data from the smartphone tracking, which would not be possible with complete anonymisation.
The app collects your mobility behaviour based on GPS tracks. These mobility data are used to analyse transport. These analyses allow for the identification key mobility indicators (e.g. mode choice). Further, trip purposes are derived based on multi-day travel patterns, and spatial analyses are conducted. For technical details, see our data privacy policy.
All data collected during the study will be treated strictly confidentially and used exclusively for research purposes. The evaluation of the data is pseudonymised and the results are published in aggregated form, so that no conclusions can be drawn from the publications about individual persons.Only aggregated results will be published to guarantee anonymity.
You will receive weekly summaries of your mobility, by transport mode.
No. Unfortunately, we cannot offer any compensation for the short online survey.
For a detailed explanation on how to use app, please read these instructions.
«Catch My Day»
The Catch My Day app can be downloaded using the following links:
No.
UOnce you have installed the app, open it and click REGISTER to create an account. Then enter:
This usually happens if you have already created your account but you try to register again. Please make sure your account is activated and then log in to your account.
You will receive a confirmation email from catch-my-day@motion-tag.com after having successfully created your account. Please click on the link in this email to activate your account.
It is possible that the confirmation email was sent to your spam folder. Please check there first.
Otherwise, it is also possible that you made a small typo when entering your email address. We regularly try to detect and fix such cases. If you have not received the confirmation email and have not heard anything from us after a few days of creating your account, please write us an email and we will help solve the issue.
Once you have clicked on the activation link in the confirmation email, your account will be activated. Then open the app, click on the LOGIN button and enter the email address and password you chose when creating your account. Please note that it may take a few days before your recorded tracks appear in the app. We thank you for your patience.
For technical reasons, your last trips may only appear in the app after some time. If your trips do not appear for several days, please make sure that your settings are correctly set.
In the app settings, the "Tracking active" toggle must be activated.
In your smartphone settings, you must give the Catch My Day app permission to access your location.
However, different smartphone models and mobile operating systems may require additional settings.
We highly recommend you read the app instructions for more details.
You may have noticed that the app does not always measure your traffic behaviour quite correctly. Automatic detection of mobility behaviour is technically challenging. Even the best programmes for detecting the chosen mode of transport usually only achieve 80% accuracy. We would therefore appreciate it if you could occasionally validate your stages to improve the quality of the study results. Usually, even a few validations can significantly improve the accuracy of the app. For more information on validating your stages with the app, see this guide.
Contact us by e-mail: ebis-wwz@unibas.ch
