First-and-last mile solution via bicycling to improving transit accessibility and advancing transportation equity

Abstract

The speed advantage of bicycling surpasses walking as a better solution to the first-and-last-mile problem, thus improving transit accessibility and equity. As more cities are investing in bike infrastructures, it's essential to estimate to what extent the transit accessibility can be increased through the bicycle-transit modal solution to ensure sound bike network planning. To address this uncertainty, this paper creates a quantity-based method to measure the pedestrian- and bicycle-transit accessibility on the basis of which impacts of bicycling and walking on transit accessibility are estimated and compared. Meanwhile, the benefit of bicycling the first-and-last mile to transportation equity is investigated among social groups defined by income and race. The case study of Hamilton County, Ohio demonstrates that the transit access distance by bicycling is tripled compared with that by walking. The extended access distance increases the transit job accessibility by 43.70%. Moreover, it advances transit equity, which is reflected in an upgraded transit accessibility to jobs for low incomes and minorities. The paper contributes to advancing understanding the capacity of bicycling as a first-and-last-mile connector to improve transit accessibility and equity. The developed methodology can serve as a tool to facilitate the bikeway planning for extending transit point-to-point mobility.