Bicycle mode share in China: a city-level analysis of long term trends

In the past 15 years, cities in China have experienced big changes in socioeconomic and traffic conditions, resulting in a long term change in bicycle use. This study aims to quantify the changes in bicycle mode share in Chinese cities and explore the potential causes. Based on data from 51 cities, it is found that bicycle mode share at the city level decreased gradually in the past. Conventional bicycle mode share decreased with a rate of 3 % per year, but electric bicycle mode share increased with a rate of 2 % per year. The correlations between city features such as demographics and built environments and bicycle mode share at different city sizes are compared. The generalized linear models are estimated to relate the changes in the share of different trip modes to various city-level factors. The results show that the bicycle mode share in a city is impacted by factors including city area size, population density, number of cars, percentage of local road mileage among all roads, and trip purpose. Possible reasons for the changes in bicycle uses in Chinese cities are explored and policy implications are discussed.     

Using a stages of change approach to explore opportunities for increasing bicycle commuting

Given the potential benefits of bicycling to the environment, the economy, and public health, many U.S. cities have set ambitious goals for increasing the bicycle share of commute trips. The Transtheoretical Model of Behavior Change, which seeks to describe how positive and permanent change can be fostered in individuals, may shed light on how cities can most effectively increase bicycle commuting. We use the model’s “stages of change” framework to explore the potential for increased bicycle commuting to the UC Davis campus in Davis, California. Our analysis uses data from the 2012 to 2013 UC Davis Campus Travel Survey, an annual online survey that is randomly administered to students and employees at UC Davis. Based on their responses to questions about current commute mode and contemplation of bicycle commuting, respondents are divided into five stages of change: Pre-contemplation, Contemplation, Preparation, Action, and Maintenance. We construct a Bayesian multilevel ordinal logistic regression model to understand how differences in socio-demographic characteristics, travel attributes, and travel attitudes between individuals explain their membership in different stages of change. In addition, we use this model to explore the potential of various intervention strategies to move individuals through the stages of change toward becoming regular bicycle commuters. Our results indicate that travel attitudes matter more to progression toward regular commute bicycling than travel attributes, tentatively supporting the efficacy of “soft” policies focused on changing travel attitudes.     

Bicycle parking: a systematic review of scientific literature on parking behaviour,parking preferences,and their influence on cycling and travel behaviour

ABSTRACT

Cycling is experiencing a revival in many cities. Research has focused on the determinants of cycling – in particular the role of the built environment and road infrastructure. Bicycle parking has received little attention – even though bicycles are parked most of the time. This article reviews the scientific literature on bicycle parking and identifies existing gaps in research and knowledge. The review analyses 94 peer-reviewed papers identified through a search in Scopus and Web of Science, in December 2017. The annual number of papers increased 15-fold between 1995 and 2017. Overall, the level of evidence on the importance of bicycle parking is limited. The majority of studies are based on cross-sectional data with the presence of parking as a binary independent variable. Most studies focus on bicycle parking at public transport stops and at work places. Few studies report on bicycle parking throughout cities, and hardly any on parking at residential locations. Bicycle parking supply and quality appears to be a determinant of cycling for current and potential cyclists. Our findings can serve as input for an evidence-based debate on the role of bicycle parking. For practitioners, our research supports investment in bicycle parking, but acknowledges that a proper evaluation of such initiatives needs to be conducted to increase the level of evidence.     

Roadmap for free-floating bikeshare research and practice in North America

ABSTRACT

The deployment of smartphone-operated, non-station-based bicycle fleets (“dockless” or “free-floating” bikeshare) represents a new generation of bikesharing. Users locate bikes in these free-floating systems using Global Positioning Systems (GPS) and lock bikes in place at their destinations. In this paper, we review current free-floating bikesharing systems in North America and discuss priorities for future research and practice. Since launching in 2017, free-floating bikeshare has expanded rapidly to encompass 200+ systems operating 40,000+ bikes within 150+ cities. In contrast with previous systems, free-floating systems operate almost exclusively using commercial “for-profit” models, amidst concerns of financial sustainability. Governance for these systems is in early stages and can include operating fees, fleet size caps, safety requirements, parking restrictions, data sharing, and equity obligations. We identify research and practice gaps within the themes of usage, equity, sharing resources, business model, and context. While some existing bikesharing literature translates to free-floating systems, novel topics arise due to the ubiquity, fluidity, and business models of these new systems. Systems have numerous obstacles to overcome for long-term sustainability, including barriers common to station-based systems: limited supportive infrastructure, equity, theft or vandalism, and funding. Other unique obstacles arise in free-floating bikeshare around parking, sidewalk right of ways, varied bicycle types, and data sharing. This review offers background in and critical reflection on the rapidly evolving free-floating bikeshare landscape, including priorities for future research and practice. If concerns can be overcome, free-floating bikeshare may provide unprecedented opportunities to bypass congested streets, encourage physical activity, and support urban sustainability.     

自行车在山地城市应用的可行性探究

随着中国城镇化、机动化水平的提高,"以车为本"的交通发展导向已经暴露出了诸多的弊端。为了有效缓解山地城市交通的拥堵问题以及环境污染问题,本文分析了自行车在山地城市发展的重要意义,并且从环境、交通、社会以及经济四个方面详细阐述了自行车交通在山地城市运用的可行性以及注意事项,从而促进山地城市自行车系统的良好发展,倡导山城市民拥有绿色低碳出行的理念。     

Exploring public bicycle network structure based on complex network theory and shortest path analysis: the public bicycle system in Yixing,China

A well-functioning public bicycle system relates not only to its mode of operation, vehicle allocation, rental station layout and vehicle leasing configuration, but also the bicycle network structure and its formation. However, the latter aspects have been widely overlooked in China. Here, we help to further attract more researchers to conduct relevant studies and make suggestions for the development of public bicycle transport in many small and medium-sized cities across the world. We demonstrate how to explore the public bicycle network structure of a county-level Chinese city – Yixing – known for its clay ware and tourism. We show that complex network theory and shortest path analysis technology are useful in characterizing the public bicycle network structure, in aspects such as network topology, the spatial distribution of sub-networks and traffic flows. Finally, the paper proposes relevant urban planning strategies.     

Bicycle in Shanghai: Movement patterns,cyclist attitudes and the impact of traffic separation

Transportation demand continues to grow at an even faster rate than the economies of Chinese cities, placing increasing pressure on a limited road network. In certain cities of the more highly developed coastal plains, the bicycle assumed a dominant role in urban transport in the 1980s, a position maintained in the 1990s. In Shanghai, the bicycle continues to play a dominant role, although policies favour a switch to public transport. In the present paper, cyclist attitudes toward public transport policies were probed with a pilot questionnaire at two important central destinations. An important example of current policies with regard to bicycles involves the creation of separate networks for motorized and non-motorized modes. A pilot scheme for eventual application over a very large area was recently introduced in the central area. We report on the traffic volumes by mode and street before and after its implementation in 1999. Both bicycle and car volumes diminished in the central area, although the decrease was greater for bicycles. On the other hand, interviewed cyclists expressed resistance to various incentives to use public transport. The question raised here is whether the planned increase in public transport share of total intracity travel can be achieved without disincentives to use the bicycle.     

Factors associated with bicycle ownership and use: a study of six small U.S. cities

As a means of transportation and as a form of physical activity, bicycling generates benefits to the bicyclist as well as to the community as a whole. Bicycling now accounts for less than 1 percent of all trips for all purposes in the U.S., but evidence from other western countries suggests that under the right conditions, bicycling levels can be significantly higher. Indeed, the experiences of some U.S. cities suggest that it is possible to create conditions conducive to higher levels of bicycling even in the U.S. However, the extent to which bicycle investments have contributed to bicycling levels in these communities has not been rigorously assessed. The purpose of this study is to provide a better understanding of the determinants of bicycle ownership and use as a basis for identifying ways to promote bicycling. A cross-sectional study of six cities was designed to test the importance of bicycle infrastructure and other physical environment factors relative to individual factors and social environment factors, using a nested logit model to examine ownership and use decisions jointly. The results show strong effects of individual attitudes and physical and social environment factors on bicycle ownership and use.     

Bicycle lane priority: Promoting bicycle as a green mode even in congested urban area

The main obstacles to boosting the bicycle as a mode of transport are safety concerns due to interactions with motorized traffic. One option is to separate cyclists from motorists through exclusive bicycle priority lanes. This practice is easily implemented in uncongested traffic. Enforcing bicycle lanes on congested roads may degenerate the network, making the idea very hard to sell both to the public and the traffic authorities. Inspired by Braess Paradox, we take an unorthodox approach to seeking latent misutilized capacity in the congested networks to be dedicated to exclusive bicycle lanes. The aim of this study is to tailor an efficient and practical method to large size urban networks. Hence, this paper appeals to policy makers in their quest to scientifically convince stakeholder that bicycle is not a secondary mode, rather, it can be greatly accommodated along with other modes even in the heart of the congested cities. In conjunction with the bicycle lane priority, other policy measures such as shared bicycle scheme, electric-bike, integration of public transport and bicycle are also discussed in this article. As for the mathematical methodology, we articulated it as a discrete bilevel mathematical programing. In order to handle the real networks, we developed a phased methodology based on Branch-and-Bound (as a solution algorithm), structured in a less intensive RAM manner. The methodology was tested on real size network of city of Winnipeg, Canada, for which the total of 30 road segments – equivalent to 2.77 km bicycle lanes – in the CBD were found.     

Investigating the link between cyclist volumes and air pollution along bicycle facilities in a dense urban core

In this paper we explore the air pollution levels along types of bicycle facilities using a NO₂ land use model previously developed for Montreal. We explore potential associations between bicycle volumes through signalized intersections and pollution levels at those intersections. We further investigate this relationship through the comparison of over thirty cycling corridors as well as an evaluation of the potential exposure of cyclists to air pollution along five routes. We observe NO₂ concentrations to be positively correlated with bicycle flows at the intersection level. We also observe that corridors with either a bicycle path or cycle track generally rank higher in terms of bicycle volume and also have higher NO₂ concentrations than corridors without bicycle facilities. This indicates that intersections and bicycle facilities with a large number of cyclists are also those characterized with the highest air pollution levels.     

Integrating e-scooters in urban transportation: Problems,policies, and the prospect of system change

Throughout the world, cities seek to ease transport-related problems of congestion, air pollution, noise, and traffic injuries. Urban transport planners have welcomed e-scooters as an alternative to motorized individual transport, specifically the car. The public has met e-scooters with both enthusiasm and scepticism, as cities have struggled with unforeseen outcomes such as forms of irresponsible riding, cluttering, or vandalism. This paper investigates the challenges associated with the introduction of e-scooters in ten major cities, based on a content analysis of local media reports. News items (n = 173) were identified through Internet searches and include print media, TV and radio websites. Concerns prior to and after the introduction of e-scooters are assessed, analysed, and interpreted in the context of new policies for this transport mode. Results suggest that many cities have moved through trial and error stages in their search for appropriate legislation. The paper concludes that it is prudent for urban planners to introduce policies regarding maximum speeds, mandatory use of bicycle infrastructure, and dedicated parking, as well as to limit the number of licensed operators. Where negative public opinion can be averted, e-scooters stand a chance to become a disruptive niche innovation with the potential to transform urban transport systems.     

Estimating bike-share trips using station level data

Bicycle sharing systems (BSS) have increased in number rapidly since 2007. The potential benefits of BSS, mainly sustainability, health and equity, have encouraged their adoption through support and promotion by mayors in Europe and North America alike. In most cases municipal governments desire their BSS to be successful and, with few exceptions, state them as being so. New technological improvements have dramatically simplified the use and enforcement of bicycle return, resulting in the widespread adoption of BSS. Unfortunately little evaluation of the effectiveness of differently distributed and managed BSS has taken place. Comparing BSS systems quantitatively is challenging due to the limited data made available. The metrics of success presented by municipalities are often too general or incomparable to others making relative evaluations of BSS success arduous. This paper presents multiple methodologies allowing the estimation of the number of daily trips, the most significant measure of BSS usage, based on data that is commonly available, the number of bicycles available at a station over time. Results provide model coefficients as well as trip count estimates for select cities. Of four spatial and temporal aggregate models the day level aggregation is found to be most effective for estimation. In addition to trip estimation this work provides a rigorous formalization of station level data and the ability to distinguish spatio-temporal rebalancing quantities as well as new characteristics of BSS station use.     

Prioritizing bicycle paths in Belo Horizonte City,Brazil: Analysis based on user preferences and willingness considering individual heterogeneity

Using bicycles as a commuting mode has proven to be beneficial to both urban traffic conditions and travelers’ health. In order to efficiently design facilities and policies that will stimulate bicycle use, it is necessary to first understand people’s attitudes towards bicycle use, and the factors that may influence their preferences. Such an understanding will enable reliable predictions of bicycle use willingness level, based on which cycling facility construction can be reasonably prioritized.As people often have different perceptions on exercising, green transportation, and traffic conditions, effects of potentially influencing factors on people’s willingness of using bicycles tend to be highly heterogeneous. This paper uses a random parameter ordered probit model to analyze how travelers’ willingness of using bicycles is influenced by various socio-economic factors in Belo Horizonte City, Brazil, with the consideration of individual heterogeneity. The data was collected through the 2010 bicycle use survey in Belo Horizonte City. Results show that, first, the willingness of using bicycle is favored by middle income class household, and negatively related with commuting time. Second, people who rent apartments tend to be more willing to use bicycles. Third, if a person is currently walking a long time to work, he/she would be most willing to commute with a bicycle in the future. Those currently commuting a relatively short distance by motorcycle and bus follow this group in terms of willingness to commute by bicycle in the future. Car users seem to be difficult to convert to bicycle users. Moreover, the estimation shows clear evidence that significant individual heterogeneity indeed exists, especially for education level, necessitating the consideration of such an effect. With the calibrated model, residents’ willingness of using bicycle commuting is then estimated for the entire Belo Horizonte City using the 2010 Census and the 2012 O/D survey data. The results are cross validated using the bicycle path preference information, also obtained from the 2010 bicycle use survey.     

The missing link: bicycle infrastructure networks and ridership in 74 US cities

Cities promote strong bicycle networks to support and encourage bicycle commuting. However, the application of network science to bicycle facilities is not very well studied. Previous work has found relationships between the amount of bicycle infrastructure in a city and aggregate bicycle ridership, and between microscopic network structure and individual tripmaking patterns. This study fills the missing link between these two bodies of literature by developing a standard methodology for measuring bicycle facility network quality at the macroscopic level and testing its association with bicycle commuting. Bicycle infrastructure maps were collected for 74 Unites States cities and systematically analyzed to evaluate their network structure. Linear regression models revealed that connectivity and directness are important factors in predicting bicycle commuting after controlling for demographic variables and the size of the city. These findings provide a framework for transportation planners and policymakers to evaluate their local bicycle facility networks and set regional priorities that support nonmotorized travel behavior, and for continued research on the structure and quality of bicycle infrastructure and behavior.     

A ‘sustainability window’ of urban form

With global environmental change and the rise of global megacities, environmental and social externalities of urban systems, and especially of urban form, become increasingly prevalent. The question of optimal urban form has been debated and investigated by different disciplines in numerous contexts, including those of transport costs, land consumption and congestion. Here we elucidate theoretically how urban form and the urban transport system systematically modifies sustainability concerns, such as greenhouse gas emissions, local air pollution and congestion. We illustrate our analytical considerations with empirical analysis. Denser urban form would almost unambiguously mitigate climate change, but it would also lead to undesired effects, such as a higher proportion of urban dwellers affected by air pollution. Our study presents a ‘sustainability window’ by highlighting trade-offs between these sustainability concerns as a function of urban form. Only a combination of transportation policies, infrastructure investments and progressive public finance enables the development of cities that perform well in several sustainability dimensions. We estimate that a residential population density between 50 and 150 persons/ha and a modal share of environmental modes above at least 50% corresponds to the sustainability window of urban form. The parameters of the sustainability window of urban form is subject to policy changes and technological progress.     

Promoting bike-and-ride: The Dutch experience

The number of policy initiatives to promote the use of bike-and-ride, or the combined use of bicycle and public transport for one trip, has grown considerably over the past decade as part of the search for more sustainable transport solutions. This paper discusses the experiences with, and impacts of, such initiatives in the Netherlands. The Dutch measures to promote bicycle use in access trips have been generally successful. A country-wide program to upgrade regular and secure bicycle parking at train stations has led to an increase in user satisfaction and a growth in bicycles parked at stations. Smaller programs to stimulate the combined use of bike-and-bus have resulted in an increase in bicycle use, bus use, and share of infrequent bus passengers. Bicycle lockers at bus stops are hardly used by bus passengers, due in part to the dominance of students among bus users as well as the relatively high price of lockers in comparison to the value of bicycles used for access trips. Measures to promote the use of the bicycle in egress trips have met with more varying results. Projects to introduce leasing bicycles for egress trips have failed to attract passengers, for both train and bus services. In contrast, the introduction of flexible rental bicycles at train stations has resulted in a small reduction in car use, growth in train trips, and growth in bicycle use for non-recurrent trips. The Dutch experiences suggest some lessons for promoting bike-and-ride in countries and cities with a less well-developed bicycle infrastructure.     

The use of the bicycle

The rediscovery of the bicycle by the public, by politicians and by professional urban transportation planners as a mode of transport which is perfectly in harmony with the goals of environmental protection, energy saving and personal fitness has stimulated this empirical study on the actual use of the bicycle by various population groups for obligatory and discretionary trip purposes. The influence on bicycle usage of such factors as age, education, car availability, residential density and town size, topography and time of year is analysed in this paper for selected population groups. For housewives from motorized households logit‐models were designed and calibrated to model their modal choice for shopping trips with special references to the bicycle. From the empirical results, the groups with the largest potentials for cycling are identified and the extent to which the potentials could be activated by specific policies is discussed. The research is based on a large sample held to be representative for the Federal Republic of Germany in 1976 and is supplemented by more recent surveys in selected German cities conducted by SOCIALDATA Munich.     

Roadway and traffic characteristics for bicycling

The promotion of bicycle transportation includes the provision of suitable infrastructure for cyclists. In order to determine if a road is suitable for bicycling or not, and what improvements need to be made to increase the level of service for bicycles on specific situations, it is important to know how cyclists perceive the characteristics that define the roadway environment. The present paper describes research developed to define which roadway and traffic characteristics are prioritized by users and potential users in the evaluation of quality of roads for bicycling in urban areas of Brazilian medium-sized cities. A focus group discussion identified 14 attributes representing characteristics that describe the quality of roads for bicycling in Brazilian cities. In addition, an attitude survey was applied with individuals to assess their perception on the attributes, along with the importance given to each one of them. The results were analyzed through the Method of Successive Intervals Analysis, which allows the transformation of categorical data into an interval scale. The analysis suggests that both the roadway and traffic characteristics related to segments and those related to intersections are important to the survey respondents. The five most important attributes, in their opinion, are: (1) lane width; (2) motor vehicle speed; (3) visibility at intersections; (4) presence of intersections; and (5) street trees (shading). Therefore, the research suggests that to promote bicycle use in Brazilian medium-sized cities, these attributes must be prioritized.     

The transportation systems of Buenos Aires, Chicago and São Paulo: City centers, infrastructure and policy analysis

We compare the passenger transportation systems of Buenos Aires, Chicago and São Paulo. The selected cities represent distinctive combinations of land-use, infrastructure, and evolution of transport policy. Analysis is centered on accessibility to downtown areas, where transportation processes converge in an environment where space is scarce. In two of the three cities institutional arrays that legally establish unified decision making have shown little capacity to launch fare or physical coordination between modes. In two of the three cities the concentration of public transportation supply to historical downtowns has not been an attraction factor, and downtown uses have expanded to less accessible areas. Gentrification in Chicago is also another process showing that land use changes are related to many factors, transportation being only one of them, and not always a necessary one. In all three cases the use of railways, as a set of inherited infrastructures, has seen an increase whose magnitude suggests a link to modal reassignment due to increasing congestion. Scarcity of space in old downtown areas is being counteracted through more intense use, or through the expansion of vertical space for transportation operations.