Understanding the travel behaviour of food delivery workers who use e-bikes for their work is critical to informing development of safety interventions. This matters for the safety of riders and others, including pedestrians and other road users.

This talk presents findings of in-depth interviews with e-bike food delivery riders in Leeds. The research forms part of the e-SAFE (Equity, Social determinants, Anti-social behaviour, Future E-mobility) project. The project is funded by the Road Safety Trust, and is a collaboration between Universities of Leeds, Sheffield and Greenwich.

Interviews provided riders the space to discuss whether and how riding behaviours are influenced by factors including working conditions and practices, attitudes, values and perceptions, including road safety perceptions. In doing so, they enable understanding of risks implicit in occupation exposure. This methodological approach is needed as little is understood about the factors influencing e-bike delivery riders’ behaviours.

The limited existing research on safety for delivery workers combines motorbikes and e-bikes, however there are significant differences between the two (see e.g. Christie and Ward 2019; 2023). The findings of our study offer insights into how people ride and how this affects safety, why they ride in the ways that they do, whether they feel their riding is safe. We discuss the implications of this understanding, and the prospects for designing interventions intended to improve safety for riders and other road users which effectively account for the influences and constraints faced by riders.

Professor Caroline Mullen, Professor of Sustainable Mobility, Institute for Transport Studies, University of Leeds

My research investigates how mobility systems affect social welfare, health and social inequalities, and the environment. I also explore the roles of participatory and collaborative approaches in research, governance and decision-making related to mobility systems.

My research uses philosophy and qualitative social science, and collaboration with researchers from disciplines across social sciences, humanities and physical sciences. I am an investigator on large national and international interdisciplinary and mixed-methods research projects. My research is used nationally and internationally in evidence for climate and sustainable development plans, as well as for transport policy, planning and projects, and in collaborations with non-governmental actors, and engagement with the public.