IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/trapol/v106y2021icp262-270.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Bikeshare and subway ridership changes during the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City

Author

Listed:
  • Wang, Haoyun
  • Noland, Robert B.

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has been unprecedented in its scale and speed, impacting the entire world, and having an impact on metropolitan transportation systems. New York City (NYC) was especially hard hit in March and April 2020. A mandatory stay-at-home order was instituted, with all but essential businesses ordered closed. In this paper we examine the impact on the Citi Bike system and the NYC subway. Usage patterns during the lockdown are compared to corresponding days in 2019. Controlling for weather patterns we examine the effect of the lockdown and subsequent reopening of economic activity up through the end of September 2020. The results show that both subway ridership and bikeshare usage plummeted initially; bikeshare usage has nearly returned to normal while subway ridership remains substantially below pre-COVID levels. Implications for policy suggest that the bikeshare system provides resilience to the overall transportation system during disasters when public transit is considered dangerous or is disrupted.

Suggested Citation

  • Wang, Haoyun & Noland, Robert B., 2021. "Bikeshare and subway ridership changes during the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 262-270.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:trapol:v:106:y:2021:i:c:p:262-270
    DOI: 10.1016/j.tranpol.2021.04.004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0967070X21000974
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.tranpol.2021.04.004?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Elliot Fishman, 2016. "Bikeshare: A Review of Recent Literature," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(1), pages 92-113, January.
    2. Campbell, Kayleigh B. & Brakewood, Candace, 2017. "Sharing riders: How bikesharing impacts bus ridership in New York City," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 264-282.
    3. Kim, Kyoungok, 2018. "Investigation on the effects of weather and calendar events on bike-sharing according to the trip patterns of bike rentals of stations," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 309-320.
    4. Wafic El-Assi & Mohamed Salah Mahmoud & Khandker Nurul Habib, 2017. "Effects of built environment and weather on bike sharing demand: a station level analysis of commercial bike sharing in Toronto," Transportation, Springer, vol. 44(3), pages 589-613, May.
    5. Kyle Gebhart & Robert Noland, 2014. "The impact of weather conditions on bikeshare trips in Washington, DC," Transportation, Springer, vol. 41(6), pages 1205-1225, November.
    6. Jonathan Weinert & Chaktan Ma & Christopher Cherry, 2007. "The transition to electric bikes in China: history and key reasons for rapid growth," Transportation, Springer, vol. 34(3), pages 301-318, May.
    7. Singhal, Abhishek & Kamga, Camille & Yazici, Anil, 2014. "Impact of weather on urban transit ridership," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 379-391.
    8. Noland, Robert B. & Smart, Michael J. & Guo, Ziye, 2016. "Bikeshare trip generation in New York City," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 164-181.
    9. Elliot Fishman & Simon Washington & Narelle Haworth, 2013. "Bike Share: A Synthesis of the Literature," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(2), pages 148-165, March.
    10. Kuo-Ying Wang, 2014. "How Change of Public Transportation Usage Reveals Fear of the SARS Virus in a City," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(3), pages 1-10, March.
    11. An, Ran & Zahnow, Renee & Pojani, Dorina & Corcoran, Jonathan, 2019. "Weather and cycling in New York: The case of Citibike," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 97-112.
    12. Michael Batty, 2020. "The Coronavirus crisis: What will the post-pandemic city look like?," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 47(4), pages 547-552, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Shirgaokar, Manish & Reynard, Darcy & Collins, Damian, 2021. "Using twitter to investigate responses to street reallocation during COVID-19: Findings from the U.S. and Canada," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 154(C), pages 300-312.
    2. Shahram Heydari & Garyfallos Konstantinoudis & Abdul Wahid Behsoodi, 2021. "Effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on bike-sharing demand and hire time: Evidence from Santander Cycles in London," Papers 2107.11589, arXiv.org.
    3. Lucia Rotaris & Mario Intini & Alessandro Gardelli, 2022. "Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Bike-Sharing: A Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-16, October.
    4. Elif Bozkaya & Levent Eriskin & Mumtaz Karatas, 2023. "Data analytics during pandemics: a transportation and location planning perspective," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 328(1), pages 193-244, September.
    5. Fan, Huiying & Lu, Hongyu & Guin, Angshuman & Watkins, Kari E & Guensler, Randall, 2022. "Combined Effect of Changes in Transit Service and Changes in Occupancy on Per-Passenger Energy Consumption," Institute of Transportation Studies, Working Paper Series qt2x1320p5, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Davis.
    6. Ali El Zein & Adrien Beziat & Pascal Pochet & Olivier Klein & Stephanie Vincent, 2022. "What drives the changes in public transport use in the context of the COVID‐19 pandemic? Highlights from Lyon metropolitan area," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(S1), pages 122-141, November.
    7. Xin, Mengwei & Shalaby, Amer & Feng, Shumin & Zhao, Hu, 2021. "Impacts of COVID-19 on urban rail transit ridership using the Synthetic Control Method," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 1-16.
    8. Meng, Xin & Guo, Mingxue & Gao, Ziyou & Kang, Liujiang, 2023. "Interaction between travel restriction policies and the spread of COVID-19," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 209-227.
    9. Jiang, Shixiong & Cai, Canhuang, 2022. "Unraveling the dynamic impacts of COVID-19 on metro ridership: An empirical analysis of Beijing and Shanghai, China," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 158-170.
    10. Filipe Teixeira, João & Silva, Cecília & Moura e Sá, Frederico, 2022. "The role of bike sharing during the coronavirus pandemic: An analysis of the mobility patterns and perceptions of Lisbon’s GIRA users," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 17-34.
    11. Dehdari Ebrahimi, Zhila & Momenitabar, Mohsen & Nasri, Arefeh A. & Mattson, Jeremy, 2022. "Using a GIS-based spatial approach to determine the optimal locations of bikeshare stations: The case of Washington D.C," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 48-60.
    12. Danial Owen & Daniel Arribas-Bel & Francisco Rowe, 2023. "Tracking the Transit Divide: A Multilevel Modelling Approach of Urban Inequalities and Train Ridership Disparities in Chicago," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-18, May.
    13. Zhang, Xiang & Li, Wence, 2023. "Effects of a bike sharing system and COVID-19 on low-carbon traffic modal shift and emission reduction," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 42-64.
    14. Xinyi Xie & Mingyang Du & Xuefeng Li & Yunjian Jiang, 2023. "Exploring Influential Factors of Free-Floating Bike-Sharing Usage Frequency before and after COVID-19," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-17, May.
    15. Ziedan, Abubakr & Lima, Luiz & Brakewood, Candace, 2023. "A multiple mediation analysis to untangle the impacts of COVID-19 on nationwide bus ridership in the United States," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    16. Yi Cao & Xue Li, 2022. "Multi-Model Attention Fusion Multilayer Perceptron Prediction Method for Subway OD Passenger Flow under COVID-19," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-16, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wang, Kailai & Chen, Yu-Jen, 2020. "Joint analysis of the impacts of built environment on bikeshare station capacity and trip attractions," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    2. Shahram Heydari & Garyfallos Konstantinoudis & Abdul Wahid Behsoodi, 2021. "Effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on bike-sharing demand and hire time: Evidence from Santander Cycles in London," Papers 2107.11589, arXiv.org.
    3. Yuanyuan Zhang & Yuming Zhang, 2018. "Associations between Public Transit Usage and Bikesharing Behaviors in The United States," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-20, June.
    4. 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.
    5. Mix, Richard & Hurtubia, Ricardo & Raveau, Sebastián, 2022. "Optimal location of bike-sharing stations: A built environment and accessibility approach," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 160(C), pages 126-142.
    6. Bakó, Barna & Isztin, Péter & Berezvai, Zombor & Cseke, Petra Zsuzsanna, 2019. "Infrastruktúra-bővítés világversenyek idején. A Mol Bubi esete a FINA világbajnoksággal [Infrastructural investments for international sports events. Network expansion of the MOL Bubi bicycle-shari," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(1), pages 4-21.
    7. 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).
    8. Wang, Kailai & Akar, Gulsah & Chen, Yu-Jen, 2018. "Bike sharing differences among Millennials, Gen Xers, and Baby Boomers: Lessons learnt from New York City’s bike share," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 1-14.
    9. Bakó, Barna & Berezvai, Zombor & Isztin, Péter & Vigh, Enikő Zita, 2020. "Does Uber affect bicycle-sharing usage? Evidence from a natural experiment in Budapest," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 290-302.
    10. Tomasz Bieliński & Agnieszka Kwapisz & Agnieszka Ważna, 2019. "Bike-Sharing Systems in Poland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-14, April.
    11. 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.
    12. Wang, Jueyu & Lindsey, Greg, 2019. "Do new bike share stations increase member use: A quasi-experimental study," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 1-11.
    13. Nigro, Marialisa & Castiglione, Marisdea & Maria Colasanti, Fabio & De Vincentis, Rosita & Valenti, Gaetano & Liberto, Carlo & Comi, Antonio, 2022. "Exploiting floating car data to derive the shifting potential to electric micromobility," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 78-93.
    14. Bean, Richard & Pojani, Dorina & Corcoran, Jonathan, 2021. "How does weather affect bikeshare use? A comparative analysis of forty cities across climate zones," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    15. Biehl, Alec & Ermagun, Alireza & Stathopoulos, Amanda, 2019. "Utilizing multi-stage behavior change theory to model the process of bike share adoption," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 30-45.
    16. Wang, Xudong & Cheng, Zhanhong & Trépanier, Martin & Sun, Lijun, 2021. "Modeling bike-sharing demand using a regression model with spatially varying coefficients," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    17. Kim, Kyoungok, 2023. "Investigation of modal integration of bike-sharing and public transit in Seoul for the holders of 365-day passes," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    18. Morton, Craig, 2020. "The demand for cycle sharing: Examining the links between weather conditions, air quality levels, and cycling demand for regular and casual users," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    19. Younes, Hannah & Zou, Zhenpeng & Wu, Jiahui & Baiocchi, Giovanni, 2020. "Comparing the Temporal Determinants of Dockless Scooter-share and Station-based Bike-share in Washington, D.C," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 308-320.
    20. Mehzabin Tuli, Farzana & Mitra, Suman & Crews, Mariah B., 2021. "Factors influencing the usage of shared E-scooters in Chicago," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 154(C), pages 164-185.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:trapol:v:106:y:2021:i:c:p:262-270. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/30473/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.