Study on Clustering of Free-Floating Bike-Sharing Parking Time Series in Beijing Subway Stations

Rong Rong,Xu Xu,Bain Bain,Wang Wang,Yin Yin

doi:10.3390/su11195439

Rong Rong, Xu Xu + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/su11195439

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Abstract

In recent years, the free-floating bike-sharing (FFBS) system has become a significant mode of travel to satisfy urban residents’ travel demands. However, with the rapid development of FFBS, many problems have arisen, among which the parking problem is the most prominent. To solve the FFBS parking problem around urban subways, firstly, the time series of FFBS parking pattern and subway station classification in Beijing were constructed based on parking intensity, showing a significant spatial distribution of subway stations with different intensity levels. Second, a hierarchical clustering method based on dynamic time warping (DTW) was proposed to cluster the FFBS parking time series. Subway stations in Beijing were grouped into 11 clusters, and the clustering purity reached 0.939, which achieved the expected effect. Then, the peak and off-peak period features of time series were extracted to discuss the clustering results. Finally, a two-level early-warning index for monitoring FFBS was constructed, which took the real-time parking quantity and land use capacity of FFBS into consideration. And FFBS parking management strategies for different early-warning indices were put forward. It is very important for the sustainable development of FFBS and cities.

Highlights

With the development of motorized traffic, air pollution and traffic congestion have become increasingly prominent [1]
Since this paper aims to study the parking pattern of free-floating bike-sharing system (FFBS), it is necessary to establish a time series relating to parking quantity
FFBS parking is a prominent problem in urban governance in China

Summary

Introduction

With the development of motorized traffic, air pollution and traffic congestion have become increasingly prominent [1]. To promote sustainable development of transportation, many efforts have been made, one of which was the bike-sharing program. The bike-sharing program is widely accepted as a nonmotorized transportation solution which is of great importance to alleviate traffic problems in cities [2,3]. PBS (Figure 1a) is often run or subsidized by the government, involving massive docking station constructions, whilst FFBS is a newer form [5], which has been developing rapidly in China since 2016. FFBS are completely sponsored and operated by enterprises. It has overcome the limit of fixed sites, that is, people can rent or return bikes anywhere. Large numbers of bikes were launched by numerous enterprises to seize market share. As of early 2019, there had been eight FFBS companies operating in Beijing, with over 1.9 million shared bikes in use, and the average daily use frequency of shared bikes reached approximately 2,000,000 times [6]

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