Abstract
With the growth of dockless bike-sharing (DLBS) systems, the first-and-last mile connection to public transport, such as metro and light railway stations, could be improved. DLBS systems complete the trip chain by connecting metro stations with points of interest and enhance the sustainability of urban transportation. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the trans-shipment characteristics of DLBS systems for metro stations. In this study, we collected data from the Mobike DLBS system in Nanjing City, China and applied K-means clustering to analyse the activity patterns of DLBS systems near local metro stations. Metro stations were categorised into five types on workdays and three types on weekends. An analysis of the relationships between activity patterns and spatial distribution characteristics demonstrated that the distribution of clusters possesses a strong connection with the surrounding environment. Low land development rates and a sparse distribution of metro stations cause a large range of influences. This research has direct implications for understanding the operating state of DLBS systems near metro stations and promoting the proper management of DLBS systems.
Highlights
With rapid economic development and high-level urbanisation, large-scale cities in China experience traffic congestion [1,2]
There remains a necessity to understand the operating characteristics of dockless bike-sharing (DLBS) systems near metro stations, which could provide guidance for their operation and management. To fill in these knowledge gaps, this study was aimed at analysing the operating characteristics of a DLBS system near metro stations using data from Mobike based on the example of Nanjing, which is the capital of Jiangsu province
Owing to the flexibility of DLBS systems, people usually return bikes near metro stations when they use a metro system; we tested distance ranges for these scenarios
Summary
With rapid economic development and high-level urbanisation, large-scale cities in China experience traffic congestion [1,2]. Dockless bike-sharing (DLBS) systems have been developed rapidly all over the world within the last few years. These systems offer an environmentally-friendly and sustainable solution to the first-and-last mile connection, which completes the trip chain for existing public transportation modes, such as metros and bus systems [8]. DLBS systems have replaced traditional bike sharing systems to a large extent in most metropolitan areas in China owing to their flexibility and convenience.
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