Abstract
A new mobility ethos is needed for cities looking to overcome the problems that have been accumulated for decades by a transport paradigm that prioritises automobiles over people. Bike-sharing, a measure promoting voluntary travel behaviour change, could be part of a refined toolbox that will help in forging this new ethos. Despite a rapid emergence during the last handful of years, as evidenced by 1956 operational local schemes and approximately 15,254,400 self-service public use bicycles across the world, bike-sharing has been attracting negative attention lately. Tens of schemes have closed down, deemed as financial or operational failures, stigmatising bike-sharing’s brand and putting the future of the concept itself in jeopardy. However, discounting bike-sharing as flawed may not be fair or accurate. This paper identifies a formula of success for bike-sharing operations based on a state-of-the-art case study analysis, which is supported by primary data evidence from two survey-based studies in Sweden and Greece. This paper suggests that residents in cities hosting or looking to host bike-sharing schemes are usually very supportive of them but not always likely to use them. More importantly, this paper delivers some key policy and business lessons that form a survival guide for effectively introducing and running public bicycle schemes. These lessons include, among others, the need for: tailoring the system design and expansion strategy according to the host city needs, city-operator and commercial partner synergies, more bike-friendly infrastructure and legislation, pro-active cultural engagement, anti-abuse measures, enhanced fleet management and realistic profit expectations.
Highlights
An excessively car-centric transportation system has been the cornerstone of urban development for decades ; a cornerstone associated with adverse effects on social, economic and environmental sustainability
This paper aims to re-invent the formula of long-term success for bike-sharing operations by developing policy and business lessons that will help policy-makers and transport providers in establishing and managing these schemes more effectively, and, to a degree, other micromobility systems
The present study aims to fill in this important research gap and provide a comprehensive policy, business and academic guide that will indicate how bike-sharing schemes can be effectively safe-guarded from future failures
Summary
An excessively car-centric transportation system has been the cornerstone of urban development for decades ; a cornerstone associated with adverse effects on social, economic and environmental sustainability. A new mobility ethos is needed, for cities looking to effectively address these challenges, which, among other actions, will require policy-makers and mobility providers to promote voluntary travel behaviour change via powerful active and shared transport initiatives [7]. This will push forward the transition to a paradigm change [8] that will help cities plagued by conventional unsustainable thinking to transform into smart cities [9,10]. Bike-sharing is defined as a system referring to the provision of affordable short-term access to locally branded bicycles on an ‘as-needed’ basis that could extend the reach of public transit services to final destinations and be a door-opener for increased bicycle usage [11]
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