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The contradictions of bike-share benefits, purposes and outcomes

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  • Médard de Chardon, Cyrille

Abstract

Bicycle Sharing Systems (BSS) are now ubiquitous due to their plausible environmental and social benefits promoted by municipalities, operators and technology providers. Recent practices and literature however undermines many suggested benefits of BSS showing they mostly facilitate transport for already privileged demographics in increasingly exclusive urban cores. Additionally, case study performance estimates in Europe and North America commonly show low usage rates further undermining promoted benefits. In the context of urban transports existing social injustice, energy consumption and land use, which cannot be sustained, this work, drawing on data analysis, interviews and literature and media review in North America and Europe, presents how existing BSS deployments have intrinsic flaws. These convenient luxuries are typically not effective or less so than familiar, proven and less technologically innovative opportunities at achieving greater cycling modal share.

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  • Médard de Chardon, Cyrille, 2019. "The contradictions of bike-share benefits, purposes and outcomes," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 401-419.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:transa:v:121:y:2019:i:c:p:401-419
    DOI: 10.1016/j.tra.2019.01.031
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    Cited by:

    1. Tamás Mátrai & János Tóth, 2020. "Cluster Analysis of Public Bike Sharing Systems for Categorization," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-15, July.
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    4. Gao, Kun & Yang, Ying & Li, Aoyong & Li, Junhong & Yu, Bo, 2021. "Quantifying economic benefits from free-floating bike-sharing systems: A trip-level inference approach and city-scale analysis," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 89-103.
    5. Kumar Dey, Bibhas & Anowar, Sabreena & Eluru, Naveen, 2021. "A framework for estimating bikeshare origin destination flows using a multiple discrete continuous system," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 119-133.
    6. Radzimski, Adam & Dzięcielski, Michał, 2021. "Exploring the relationship between bike-sharing and public transport in Poznań, Poland," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 189-202.
    7. Sherriff, Graeme & Adams, Mags & Blazejewski, Luke & Davies, Nick & Kamerāde, Daiga, 2020. "From Mobike to no bike in Greater Manchester: Using the capabilities approach to explore Europe's first wave of dockless bike share," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    8. Kębłowski, Wojciech & Dobruszkes, Frédéric & Boussauw, Kobe, 2022. "Moving past sustainable transport studies: Towards a critical perspective on urban transport," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 74-83.
    9. Alexandros Nikitas, 2019. "How to Save Bike-Sharing: An Evidence-Based Survival Toolkit for Policy-Makers and Mobility Providers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-17, June.
    10. Matteo della Mura & Serena Failla & Nicolò Gori & Alfonso Micucci & Filippo Paganelli, 2022. "E-Scooter Presence in Urban Areas: Are Consistent Rules, Paying Attention and Smooth Infrastructure Enough for Safety?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-36, November.
    11. Wood, Astrid, 2020. "Tracing the absence of bike-share in Johannesburg: A case of policy mobilities and non-adoption," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    12. Wang, Yacan & Douglas, Matthew & Hazen, Benjamin, 2021. "Diffusion of public bicycle systems: Investigating influences of users’ perceived risk and switching intention," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 1-13.
    13. Willberg, Elias & Salonen, Maria & Toivonen, Tuuli, 2021. "What do trip data reveal about bike-sharing system users?," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    14. Andrea Bardi & Luca Mantecchini & Denis Grasso & Filippo Paganelli & Caterina Malandri, 2019. "Flexible Mobile Hub for E-Bike Sharing and Cruise Tourism: A Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(19), pages 1-15, October.
    15. Böcker, Lars & Anderson, Ellinor & Uteng, Tanu Priya & Throndsen, Torstein, 2020. "Bike sharing use in conjunction to public transport: Exploring spatiotemporal, age and gender dimensions in Oslo, Norway," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 389-401.
    16. Zhao, De & Ong, Ghim Ping, 2021. "Geo-fenced parking spaces identification for free-floating bicycle sharing system," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 49-63.
    17. Hyungkyoo Kim, 2020. "Seasonal Impacts of Particulate Matter Levels on Bike Sharing in Seoul, South Korea," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(11), pages 1-17, June.
    18. Oviedo, Daniel & Sabogal-Cardona, Orlando, 2022. "Arguments for cycling as a mechanism for sustainable modal shifts in Bogotá," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    19. Teixeira, João Filipe & Silva, Cecília & Moura e Sá, Frederico, 2022. "The strengths and weaknesses of bike sharing as an alternative mode during disruptive public health crisis: A qualitative analysis on the users’ motivations during COVID-19," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 24-37.
    20. Kim, Minjun & Cho, Gi-Hyoug, 2021. "Analysis on bike-share ridership for origin-destination pairs: Effects of public transit route characteristics and land-use patterns," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    21. Wojciech Keblowski & Frédéric Dobruszkes & Kobe Boussauw, 2022. "Moving past sustainable transport studies: Towards a critical perspective on urban transport," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/341191, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    22. Willberg, Elias S & Tenkanen, Henrikki & Poom, Age & Salonen, Maria & Toivonen, Tuuli, 2021. "Comparing spatial data sources for cycling studies – a review," SocArXiv ruy3j, Center for Open Science.
    23. Cooper, Erin & Vanoutrive, Thomas, 2022. "Does MaaS address the challenges of multi-modal mothers? User perspectives from Brussels, Belgium," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 130-138.
    24. Lovelace, Robin & Beecham, Roger & Heinen, Eva & Vidal Tortosa, Eugeni & Yang, Yuanxuan & Slade, Chris & Roberts, Antonia, 2020. "Is the London Cycle Hire Scheme becoming more inclusive? An evaluation of the shifting spatial distribution of uptake based on 70 million trips," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 1-15.

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