A Systematic Review of Station Location Techniques for Bicycle-Sharing Systems Planning and Operation

Abstract

Designing or expanding a bicycle-sharing system (BSS) involves addressing the infrastructure’s location of the bicycle stations. Station location is an essential factor for designing and implementing a new system or for its operation. In a complex spatial optimization context, geographic information systems (GIS) can support this decision problem. There are also numerous ways of subdividing the broad spectrum of location-allocation models used in previous studies. However, a station location comprehensive review and systematization with the specific aim of characterizing the state of the art of BSS is missing. The present research aimed to provide a comprehensive systematization for station location problems, criteria, and techniques, seeking to identify the current state of practice. We searched scientific publication databases to collect relevant publications—the final list comprised 24 papers for the literature review. The systematization addresses the two major problems concerning bicycle station location: initial network design and operation improvement (where changes in operating a BSS are implemented). Based on the literature, we propose a set of four main criteria for choosing appropriate places for bike stations (or parking) in a city: “bike network”, “operator”, “user”, and “city infrastructure”. The sub-criteria mentioned in the literature are categorized based on the proposed classification and new sub-criteria are suggested. We also group location modeling techniques into three categories: “mathematical algorithms”, “multi-criteria decision making”, and “GIS”. Combining GIS and multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) has received more attention in recent years to locate bike stations, evaluate their operating performance, and have more accurate and practical results.