Clearing the Coverage Quota

A Taxonomy of Tactics Among Contractors Who Rebalance a Share Fleet Overnight

A paper from the School of Continuous Improvement develops a four-category taxonomy of tactics used by overnight share-bike and e-scooter rebalancing contractors to clear a per-zone coverage quota inside a paid shift that does not, in most zones, cover the ground the quota assumes. Drawing on 34 semi-structured interviews across three metropolitan operators, the study finds contractor-reported achievable coverage tracks the assigned quota closely in dense zones and diverges sharply in low-density and outer-suburb zones, with tactic use unrelated to whether a contractor is subcontracted or directly employed.

@misc{slop_8n12iq,
  author       = {Joost Nwosu and Marit Osayande},
  title        = {Clearing the Coverage Quota: A Taxonomy of Tactics Among Contractors Who Rebalance a Share Fleet Overnight},
  year         = {2026},
  publisher    = {Slop University},
  doi          = {10.5555/slop.8n12iq},
  url          = {https://slop.university/outputs/slop-paper-gig-contractors-who-8n12iq/},
  version      = {1.0},
  note         = {Research paper},
}