Determining the exact location of a public bicycle station—The optimal distance between the building entrance/exit and the station

As a sustainable mode of transportation, public bicycles significantly improve daily mobility. The location of stations is a key element for the success of a public bicycle system, as a long walking distance will reduce people’s willingness to use this mode of transportation. Building forms in China are different from the open type seen abroad. Many residential, office and school areas are enclosed by walls, and pedestrian flow is concentrated at the entrances/exits of these areas. Therefore, the station must be located close to the building entrance/exit. Previous studies on station location located the stations only per zone, without providing the exact locations of the stations in the zones. This paper considers the optimal distance between the building entrance/exit and the station to determine the exact station locations. The results can serve as a reference for the planning and optimization of public bicycle stations. A questionnaire survey was conducted in Beijing to determine users’ walking distances to the stations. The results indicated that the walking distance decay laws of stations were different for different land uses. Moreover, a binary logistic model was developed to verify that users with different travel purposes have different walking distances. Based on the above results, we explored the optimal distances and tolerable distances between the building entrance/exit and the station for different land uses. These distances can be used to determine exact station locations to meet users’ physiological and psychological needs.作为一种可持续的交通出行模式，公共自行车显著提升了日常出行的可达性。站点布局是公共自行车系统成功运营的核心要素——过长的步行距离会降低民众选择该出行方式的意愿。中国的建筑布局与国外的开放式布局存在显著差异：国内大量住宅、办公及校园区域均以围墙围合，人流集中于该类区域的出入口处，因此公共自行车站点需紧邻建筑出入口设置。过往针对站点布局的研究仅按区域进行站点规划，并未给出区域内站点的精准位置。本文通过考量建筑出入口与站点间的最优距离，来确定站点的精准布设位置，研究结果可为公共自行车站点的规划与优化提供参考依据。本研究在北京地区开展问卷调查，以获取用户前往站点的步行距离数据，结果显示不同土地利用类型下，站点的步行距离衰减规律存在差异。此外，本文构建了二元Logistic回归模型，验证了不同出行目的的用户，其可接受的步行距离存在显著区别。基于上述研究结果，本文针对不同土地利用类型，探究了建筑出入口与站点间的最优距离及可容忍步行距离，此类距离参数可用于确定站点的精准布设位置，以贴合用户的生理与心理出行需求。