Dock‐based and dockless bikesharing systems: analysis of equitable access for disadvantaged communities

Dockless bikeshare systems show potential for replacing traditional dock-based systems, primarily by offering greater flexibility for bike returns. However, many cities in the US currently regulate the maximum number of bikes a dockless system can deploy due to bicycle management issues. Despite inventory management challenges, dockless systems offer two main advantages over dock-based systems: a lower (sometimes zero) membership fee, and being free-range (or, at least free-range within designated service areas). Moreover, these two advantages may help to solve existing access barriers for disadvantaged populations. To date, much of the research on micro-mobility options has focused on addressing equity issues in dock-based systems. We have limited knowledge of whether, and the extent to which dockless systems might help mitigate barriers to bikeshare for disadvantaged populations. Using San Francisco and Los Angeles as case studies, because both cities have both dock-based and dockless systems running concurrently, we quantify bikeshare service levels for communities of concern (CoCs) by analyzing the spatial distribution of service areas, available bikes and bike idle times, trip data, and rebalancing among the dock-based and dockless systems. We find that dockless systems can provide greater availability of bikes for CoCs than for other communities, attracting more trip demand in these communities because of a larger service area and frequent bike rebalancing practices. More importantly, we notice that the existence of electric bikes helps mitigate the bikeshare usage gap between CoCs and other tracts. Besides the data analyses for bikeshare trips, we also study the spatial distribution of online suggested station locations and find that the participants' desired destinations for work/school purposes have not been covered to the same extent in CoCs as in other communities. Our results provide policy insights to local municipalities on how to properly regulate and develop dockless bikeshare systems to improve mobility equity.

无桩共享单车系统（Dockless bikeshare systems）展现出替代传统有桩共享单车系统（dock-based systems）的潜力，其核心优势在于为车辆归还提供了更高的灵活性。然而当前美国诸多城市出于自行车管理难题，对无桩系统可投放的最大单车数量实施了监管限制。尽管面临库存管理挑战，无桩共享单车系统相较有桩系统仍具备两大核心优势：其一为更低（有时甚至为零）的会员费，其二为可自由停放（至少在指定服务区域内可自由停放）。此外，这两大优势或有助于破解弱势群体面临的出行使用障碍。迄今为止，有关微出行方式（micro-mobility options）的多数研究均聚焦于解决有桩共享单车系统中的公平性问题，我们对无桩系统能否、以及在多大程度上能够缓解弱势群体使用共享单车的障碍仍知之甚少。本研究以旧金山与洛杉矶为案例城市——这两座城市同时运营有桩与无桩共享单车系统——通过分析两类系统的服务区域空间分布、可用单车数量、单车闲置时长、出行数据以及车辆重调度情况，量化了关注社区（Communities of Concern, CoCs）的共享单车服务水平。研究发现，相较于其他社区，无桩系统可为关注社区提供更充足的单车供给，且凭借更大的服务覆盖范围与高频的车辆重调度举措，吸引了该区域更多的出行需求。更为关键的是，我们发现电动自行车的存在有助于缩小关注社区与其他区域之间的共享单车使用差距。除针对共享单车出行的数据分析外，本研究还对线上推荐停车点位的空间分布展开了研究，结果显示参与者在通勤/上学场景下的理想目的地，在关注社区中的覆盖程度未达其他社区水平。本研究结果可为地方市政当局提供政策参考，助力其合理监管与发展无桩共享单车系统，以提升出行公平性。