Electric Fences for Dockless Bike-Sharing Systems: An Electric Fence-Planning Framework for a Dockless Bike-Sharing System Based on a Land Parcel Subdivision and Regional Coverage Maximization

Abstract

Dockless bike sharing (DBS) is convenient for bike users because it can solve their last-mile problems. However, dockless bikes that are disorderly parked in public spaces can disturb normal traffic. In planning electric fences for DBS systems, the maximum coverage location problem (MCLP) identifies locations suitable for electric fences. However, the MCLP model ignores the regional boundaries of bike use and causes substantial errors in coverage assessments. In this article, we present a novel framework for planning electric fences, accounting for both trip distribution and area shapes. We first introduce a dynamic land parcel subdivision algorithm, which can reasonably divide the city into fine-scale regions concerning the distributions of spatial parking demands. Then, we formulate the electric fence-planning problem as a regional coverage maximization problem. We develop an accelerated maximum coverage model with complementary coverage (MCMCC) to locate electric fence areas, which can improve solution accuracy and reliability. The DBS data of Shenzhen, China, are used to validate the framework. The study findings indicate that MCMCC produces more robust and accurate results than the MCLP model because the planning solutions are not affected by changes in the shapes and sizes of the regions. The framework can also automatically and accurately determine electric fence capacities and locations.