In order to explore the factors affecting users' behaviors in a free-floating bike sharing (FFBS) system in China, a survey was conducted in Jiangsu province, China in 2017, and the travel characteristics of FFBS users were analyzed. A binary logistic model was applied to quantify the impact of various variables regarding residents' usage preference based on 30401 valid questionnaires. The findings show that (1) FFBS was mainly used for short-distance travel in cities, especially for commuting and schooling, and the time period of travel in FFBS coincided with the rush-hour in urban areas; (2) a higher level of education, a higher daily transportation cost, the convenience of picking up and parking, and the contribution to users' health could promote the usage of FFBS, while malfunctioning bicycles and limited regulations were major obstacles restricting the development of FFBS; (3) interestingly, people with high-incomes rather than those with low-incomes showed an inclination for FFBS owing to the charge mode. This research provides empirical evidence to facilitate the formulation of urban transportation policies and to improve the management of FFBS for the operators.

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To encourage low-carbon travel, reduce car trips, and improve the urban traffic system, an understanding of travel mode choice for escorting children to and from school is important. Previous studies have focused mostly on walking and bicycling. However, the electric bicycle (e-bike—a mainstream escorting mode in China) rarely has been investigated. The factors that affect travel mode choice (walking, e-bike, or car) for escorting children to and from school are explored at the household level in a case study from Kunming, China. Intrahousehold interactions and parental space–time constraints are represented by the comparative working hours of the parents and space–time coordination in joint parent–child trips, respectively. A multinomial logit model was applied in mode analysis. The results reveal interesting phenomena in travel mode choices for escorting children to school. When the mother’s working hours are longer than the father’s, the travel mode choice for escorting a child to and from school is less likely to be walking or e-bike; in other words, a car is the preferred choice in mother-dominated households. The distance deviation between parents and children is a significant factor in choosing between a car or an e-bike. Children are more likely to be escorted by e-bikes as a result of distance deviations, and walking or e-bike is less likely to be chosen when the school is far from home. Results could be valuable for traffic demand management to reduce car use for trips to and from school. In addition, e-bike development should be considered seriously for the future development of China.

ReuseThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND) licence. This licence only allows you to download this work and share it with others as long as you credit the authors, but you can't change the article in any way or use it commercially. More information and the full terms of the licence here: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/ TakedownIf you consider content in White Rose Research Online to be in breach of UK law, please notify us by emailing eprints@whiterose.ac.uk including the URL of the record and the reason for the withdrawal request. AbstractEgalitarian thought has a long tradition in Chinese history. Synthesized with the socialist ideology, it was practiced nationwide in the first decades of Communist China. Alongside the well-reported quality of life improvements that the recent economic liberalisation reforms have brought about, Chinese people are experiencing an increasingly serious polarization between the rich and the poor. Consequently, an egalitarian tendency has represented itself within contemporary policy and popular discourse. This paper aims to explore how egalitarian thought has influenced public awareness of social inequities by using the case of public attitudes towards the Beijing congestion charge, which is currently still at its planning stage. Nine focus groups, with a total of 73 participants, were undertaken with residents living in different areas of the city. Results show that the perceptions of social inequities are significantly different between low-income and high-income people. Due to egalitarian thinking, low-income people expect the privileges of the rich to be abolished, however, they do not pay much attention to a wider redistribution of wealth and other social resources. By contrast, richer people tend to deny to a wider population the privileges they themselves received, and, to some extent, they are reluctant to accept policy outcomes that may favour those who are in lower social positions. The resentment against the rich, as another by-product of egalitarianism, considerably exaggerates actual social inequalities, thereby intensifying the feelings of being unequally treated.

This is a repository copy of Public acceptability of congestion charging in Beijing, China: How transferrable are Western ideas of public acceptability?.

Open biomass burning (OBB) has a significant impact on the heavy haze pollution in Northeast China (NEC) in recent years, which requires the investigation of the spatiotemporal variations of OBB with different vegetation types to better monitor and control OBB in NEC. The MODIS C6 fire and land cover products, together with the emissions inventory from the Global Fire Assimilation System, were used in this study. The changes in the total number of MODIS fire points in NEC from 2003 to 2017 demonstrated a fluctuating but generally rising trend, with a peak during 2013-2017. Most fire points concentrated in two key periods, i.e. March-April (37%) and October-November (46%). The total number of crop residue burnings in March-April was basically slightly fluctuating and increased sharply from 2013, whilst the number in October-November had a fluctuating and upward trend until 2015, when a decline appeared. The amount of OBB in March-April was higher than that in October-November during 2016-17. OBB in Heilongjiang Province comprised a major proportion of all fires, which accounted for 70.7% from 2003 to 2017; however, the proportion was only 66.2% during 2013-2017. The largest proportion of all fires was in cropland (90.8%), then forest (5.3%) and grassland (3.1%). The cumulative emissions of fine particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, and ammonia from agricultural open burning in NEC reached 78.43 Gg, 24.9 Gg, and 13.7 Gg for March-April during 2013-17, respectively, which were close to those in October-November.

This is a repository copy of Investigating the effect of the spatial relationship between home, workplace and school on parental chauffeurs' daily travel mode choice.