Attractiveness of Bike-Sharing Stations from a Multi-Modal Perspective: The Role of Objective and Subjective Features

Abstract

When analysing the performance of bike-sharing scheme (BSS) stations, it is common to find stations that are located in specific points that capture the interest of users, whereas nearby stations are clearly underused. This uneven behaviour is not totally understood. This paper discusses the potential factors influencing station attractiveness, supported by the related literature on cyclists’ and pedestrians’ preferences and the characteristics of the stations themselves. The existing literature addresses these topics independently, while this work unites them by proposing a non data-extensive methodology that allows the attractiveness of BSS stations to be assessed. Attractiveness in this context is understood as the set of physical, environmental and service-related features of a bike station that make it more appealing for BSS users than nearby stations. Special attention is paid to differentiating objective features, based on facts, from subjective features, those influenced by personal perceptions. This classification becomes important in this context because subjective aspects can change from one geographical location to another, making the findings related to these aspects difficult to apply to other regions. Moreover, the assessment of the stations’ levels of safety and security is included. Thus, the proposed measure of attractiveness of BSS stations provides a balanced overview of several features. The consideration of station attractiveness when designing BSS layouts will help to refine the design of new layouts and will assist in conducting an appropriate diagnostic evaluation of the existing ones. This tool will allow urban and transportation planners to reduce re-balancing costs and to maximise user satisfaction at a low cost, which have a direct impact on improving the urban sustainability. The proposed method is applied to the Dublin bike sharing scheme, Dublinbikes, with good performance results.

A GIS-Based Method of the Assessment of Spatial Integration of Bike-Sharing Stations

“…Such infrastructure encompasses routes away from traffic noise or separated from road traffic. Another study was focused on the factors that may encourage or discourage cycling associated with the physical, environmental, and servicerelated characteristics of bike paths [36]. Factors with dissuasive effects include the presence of other modes of transport along cycling paths or difficult spots such as transit stops or curbs.…”

“…On the other hand, street connectivity and the directness of pathways may influence the number of trips made using shared bikes. The physical characteristics of cycle lanes, their width and surface, as well as quality may have a similar effect [36]. The impact of cycling infrastructure has also been investigated in paper [37].…”

The Bike-Sharing Rebalancing Problem Considering Multi-Energy Mixed Fleets and Traffic Restrictions

“…Constraints (6) ensure that each vehicle starts at the depot and returns to the depot at the end of its route. Constraints (7) guarantee that each station is served exactly once. Constraints (8) refer to the usual flow conservation.…”

“…The first BSS was introduced in Amsterdam in 1965 [3] and there are now more than 1500 active BSSs [4] and this number is growing at an increasing rate [5,6]. Recently, some scholars begin to pay attention to the practical problem of mismatch of bike supply and user demands in the BSS, which is a common challenge to all BSS operators [7]. Some operators are trying to meet user demand by placing bikes in cities in large numbers, but this creates congestion on city streets and is not sustainable.…”

Evaluating the Efficiency of Bike-Sharing Stations with Data Envelopment Analysis

“…In general, it is challenging to provide effective BSS in cities since a range of behavioral aspects, as well as technical and organizational factors, can impact the usage of a bikesharing system. From the BSS planning perspective, station location, the membership, the accessibility of the stations, the number of bikes and racks in each station, the redistribution of bikes during the rush hours, the technology used for building and operation of the system, as well as the attractiveness of the service are considered significant for an effective BSS [4,15,[17][18][19]. In terms of land use, similarly to other travel modes, activity patterns and urban form influence BSS users' travel behaviors.…”