Smart Bicycle-Sharing System Design for the Historical Peninsula of Istanbul

Abstract

The paper presents a smart bike sharing system proposal with intent to promote cycling for tourists as a sightseeing trip in the Historical Peninsula of Istanbul, where high population, inadequate road infrastructure and traffic congestion make the mobility difficult. Cycling offers an alternative sustainable transportation mode to overcome these mobility challenges; it presents low cots and active mobility to the individuals, and also improves the spatial experience with urban environment. The aim of the study is to promote the use of bikes for improving visitors' (tourists) perception of the urban environment by considering bicycle demand. The research concentrates on (1) how to perform more effective bike sharing system, which is able to respond to traffic condition, and (2) adjust the bike capacity according to in user demand. The smart bike sharing system, presented in this study, consists of; 1) bike route, 2) bike use mobile application and 3) bike sharing model stages. In bike-sharing modeling process, we employ agent based modeling as decision support system. In the scope of the study, the model is evaluated through a test case that is designed by randomly selected bike park spots and terminal locations.  The results showed that there is an association between bicycle demand and the number and location of biycyle facilities (bike park spots and terminals). The presented bike sharing system offers a navigation map for the visitors unfamiliar with the area and a dynamic model proposal that responds flexibly to user needs. The developed dynamic bicycle system is expected to increase the user satisfaction and thus the use of bicycles by reducing the bicycle waiting time of the users.