Bicycling

Bikesharing in Europe, the Americas, and Asia: Past, Present and Future

Susan Shaheen
Guzman, Stacey
Zhang, Hua
2010

Growing concerns over global motorization and climate change have led to increasing interest in sustainable transportation alternatives, such as bikesharing (the shared use of a bicycle fleet). Since 1965, bikesharing has grown across the globe on four continents including: Europe, North America, South America, and Asia (including Australia). Today, there are approximately 100 bikesharing programs operating in an estimated 125 cities around the world with over 139,300 bicycles. Bikesharing’s evolution is categorized into three generations: 1) White Bikes (or Free Bike Systems); 2) Coin-...

China's Hangzhou Public Bicycle: Understanding Early Adoption and Behavioral Response to Bikesharing in Hangzhou, China

Susan Shaheen
Zhang, Hua
Martin, Elliot
Guzman, Stacey
2011

Over the past 20 years, China has experienced a steady decline in bicycle use. To address this trend, China's central and local government for urban transportation created the "Public Transit Priority" to encourage public transport initiatives. As part of this effort, the Hangzhou government launched “Hangzhou Public Bicycle” in 2008. This service allows members to access a shared fleet of bicycles. As of March 2011, it operated 60,600 bicycles with 2,416 fixed stations in eight core districts. To understand factors leading to bikesharing adoption and barriers to adoption, the authors...

Public Bikesharing in North America: Early Operator Understanding and Emerging Trends

Susan Shaheen
Cohen, Adam
Martin, Elliot, PhD
2013

Public bikesharing—the shared use of a bicycle fleet by the public—is an innovative mobility strategy that has recently emerged in major North American cities. Bikesharing systems typically position bicycles throughout an urban environment, among a network of docking stations, for immediate access. Approximately five years ago, information technology (or IT)-based bikesharing services began to emerge in North America. Between 2007 and March 2013, 28 IT-based programs have been deployed–24 are operational, two are temporarily suspended, and two are now defunct in the United States (U.S.)...

Bikesharing across the Globe

Susan Shaheen
Guzman, Stacey
Zhang, Hua
2012

Concerns about global climate change, energy security, and unstable fuel prices have caused many decision makers and policy experts worldwideto closely examine the need for more sustainable transportation strategies. Sustainable strategies include clean fuels, vehicle technologies, transportation demand management, and integrated land use and transportation strategies (Shaheen and Lipman 2007). Bikesharing—the shared use of a bicycle fleet—is one mobility strategy that could help address many of these concerns. In recent years, interest in this evolving concept has spread across the globe...

Understanding the Diffusion of Public Bikesharing Systems: Evidence from Europe and North America

Parkes, Stephen
Mardsen, Greg
Susan Shaheen
Cohen, Adam
2013

Since the mid-2000s, public bikesharing (also known as ‘‘bike hire’’) has developed and spread into a new form of mobility in cities across the globe. This paper presents an analysis of the recent increase in the number of public bikesharing systems. Bikesharing is the shared use of a bicycle fleet, which is accessible to the public and serves as a form of public transportation. The initial system designs were pioneered in Europe and, after a series of technological innovations, appear to have matured into a system experiencing widespread adoption. There are also signs that the policy of...

Bicycle Evolution in China: From the 1900s to the Present

Zhang, Hua
Susan Shaheen
Chen, Xingpeng
2013

This article examines four phases in bicycle evolution in China from initial entry and slow growth (1900s to 1978), to rapid growth (1978 to 1995), bicycle use reduction (1995 to 2002), and policy diversification (2002 to present). Two bicycle innovations, electric bikes, and public bikesharing (the shared use of a bicycle fleet), are also explored in this article. Electric bikes could provide a transitional mode on the pathway to bicycle and public transportation integration or to small battery electric cars. Four lessons have been learned from China’s electric bike experience relevant to...

Public Bikesharing and Modal Shift Behavior: A Comparative Study of Early Bikesharing Systems in North America

Susan Shaheen
Martin, Elliot, PhD
Cohen, Adam
2013

Public bikesharing—the shared use of a bicycle fleet by the public—is an innovative mobility strategy that has recently emerged in major North American cities. Bikesharing systems typically position bicycles throughout an urban environment, among a network of docking stations, for immediate access. This paper discusses the modal shift that results from individuals participating in four public bikesharing systems in North America. The authors conducted an online survey (n =10,661 total sample), between November 2011 and January 2012, with members of four major bikesharing organizations (...

Evaluating Public Transit Modal Shift Dynamics In Response to Bikesharing: A Tale of Two U.S. Cities

Martin, Elliot, PhD
Susan Shaheen
2014

Public bikesharing—the shared use of a bicycle fleet—has recently emerged in major North American cities. Bikesharing has been found to decrease driving and increase bicycling. But shifts in public transit have been mixed. The authors evaluate survey data from two U.S. cities to explore who is shifting toward and away from public transit as a result of bikesharing. The authors explore this question by mapping geocoded home and work locations of respondents within Washington DC and Minneapolis. Respondents were mapped by their modal shift toward or away from bus and rail transit. The...

Shared Mobility: A Sustainability & Technologies Workshop: Definitions, Industry Developments, and Early Understanding

Susan Shaheen
Chan, Nelson
Bansal, Apaar
Cohen, Adam
2015

Shared mobility - the shared use of a vehicle, bicycle, or other mode - enables users to gain short-term access to transportation modes on an “as-needed” basis. Shared mobility includes carsharing, bikesharing, ridesharing, and on-demand ride services. It can also include alternative transit services, such as paratransit, shuttles, and private transit services. Smartphone “apps” are available to aggregate options and optimize routes. New ways of transporting and delivering goods also have emerged with the potential to change the nature of the package and food delivery industry. Shared...

Mobility and the Sharing Economy: Potential to Overcome First- and Last-Mile Public Transit Connections

Susan Shaheen
Chan, Nelson
2016

Shared mobility—the shared use of a motor vehicle, bicycle, or other mode—enables travelers to gain short-term access to transportation modes on an as-needed basis. The term “shared mobility” includes the modes of carsharing, personal vehicle sharing (peer-to-peer carsharing and fractional ownership), bikesharing, scooter sharing, traditional ridesharing, transportation network companies (or ridesourcing), and e-Hail (taxis). It can also include flexible transit services, including microtransit, which supplement fixed-route bus and rail services. Shared mobility has proliferated in global...