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The infrastructural development of the Greater Bay Area in China has experienced rapid growth in recent years. Given the national plans, local governments have to upgrade their urban habitat, convenience, leisure and recreation. Particularly, municipal governments have built lengthy bike lanes for multiple purposes such as commuting, exercise, leisure and tourism. Users' preferences have become more diversified. Within the GBA region, several bike lanes exceed 100 km and thus many rest stations are available along the route. Nevertheless, prior bike travelling studies in Asia Pacific countries have focused on the whole trip experience and bike lanes' safety design focusing in rural areas. There exists a paucity of information about users' preference of amenities for a relatively long-haul bike journey for leisure and tourism purpose in a metropolitan setting. To fill the gap, research with mixed methods using interviews with two groups of insightful persons and a survey of 342 potential users were undertaken to gather their perspectives on the 30 value-added amenities of rest stations for biking travelling. At last, the implications of findings on related policy planning were discussed inclusive the proposed establishment of a commission comprising boarder representativeness of stakeholders and the prioritized facilities in the planning for optimization of bike path for tourism and leisure. • Prior bike travelling studies in Asia Pacific countries have focused on the whole trip experience and bike lanes' safety design focusing in rural areas. There exists a paucity of information about users' preference of amenities for a relatively long-haul bike journey for leisure and tourism purpose in a metropolitan setting. • Two-phrase research design using interviews with two groups of insightful persons and a survey of 342 potential users were undertaken to gather their perspectives on the 30 value-added amenities of rest stations for biking travelling. • Implications of findings on related policy planning were discussed inclusive the proposed establishment of a commission comprising boarder representativeness of stakeholders and the prioritized facilities in the planning for optimization of bike path for tourism and leisure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study proposes a portable measurement system (PS) for pavement surface macrotexture, which improves the current detection technology and provides the necessary support for maintenance and evaluation works on urban roads, newly built roads, parking, footpath, tunnels, bicycle lanes, and short distance roads. The system can obtain the elevation values through a high precision laser sensor and a data acquisition card. Next, the outliers of natural elevation values are screened and interpolated by a statistical test method, and then the corrected data are filtered by an improved Kalman filter algorithm. Finally, the mean profile depth (MPD) is calculated based on the standard ASTM E1845-15. The replication experiments, the correlation experiments with sand patch test (SPT), and the comparative experiment with vehicle laser profiler (VLP) are carried out on 20 test sections. The results show that the variation coefficients of PS are less than 5%, the correlation indexes with SPT are more than 0.928, the mean square errors and the mean absolute percentage errors of PS are less than 0.0032 and 4.98%, respectively. Meanwhile, the conversion models of MPD with mean texture depth (MTD) are established to realise that the direct estimation of MTD data utilising MPD data for different pavement types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the promotion of green travel and the emergence of bicycle sharing have dramatically increased the population of people traveling by bicycle in China. Bicycle sharing has become an indispensable daily means of travel for some people. Therefore, the ride comfort and safety of bicycle lanes should be paid more attention. Toward meeting the demand for smooth bicycle lanes, we propose a new method of testing the roughness of bicycle lanes based on the riding condition and explore the possibility of its realization. A riding profiler is assembled and designed, and its test repeatability is verified by repeated measurements. The riding profiler is also applied to different pavement types with various speeds for roughness testing. The results demonstrate that the speed and pavement type affect the vibration acceleration and vertical displacement during riding, and the greater the riding speed, the stronger the vibration sensation. In addition, the vibration is strongest when riding on concrete block pavement and weakest on dense asphalt pavement. On the basis of the test results, the acceleration interference is taken as an evaluation index to analyze riding comfort under different conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to quantitatively investigate the effect of bicycle infrastructure on car usage. The mixed logit model with random coefficients was used to capture the differences in individuals' preferences. Based on data from a stated preference survey conducted in Huhhot, China, the estimated results showed that the mixed logit model provides better fitting than the standard logit model. Considerable variations were found in individuals' attitudes toward the use of cars and bicycles. Riding a bicycle is preferred by most individuals. Furthermore, based on the constraints for maintaining the effect on car usage equal, the equivalent change in parking fees for improvement in bicycle infrastructures was estimated. The results showed that the effect of a 100 m reduction in walking distance to bicycle stations on the probability of driving is the same as that of an approximately 2.00 yuan/h (US 0.30$/h) increase in the parking fees, and the effect of providing bike lanes is in line with additional parking fees of approximately 3.00 yuan/h (US 0.45$/h). The findings of this study can be an important reference for decision makers to consider improvements in bicycle systems and rational allocation of infrastructure investment and road resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a sustainable transportation alternative, cycling has been developed by many large cities as one essential measure for addressing the "last mile problem" in urban areas with high mobility demand. Developing a safe and friendly lane network for cycling has become an urgent task for governments, especially for many Chinese cities encountering a rapid increase in the use of "dockless" shared bikes, such as Mobike and Ofo. The emergence of such kind of app-driven dockless bike sharing systems results in a fast growth in the cycling mobility demand, and leads to a gap between the growing demand and the existing cycling infrastructure. Therefore, it is imperative to have a good understanding of the cycling travel demand and its infrastructure, and in turn to bridge the supply-demand gap. In this paper, we employ data mining techniques including graphic clustering algorithm, Louvain Method, on a large data set from one of the largest bike sharing companies in China. Then we applied the methodology in two cases in Shanghai, including a campus and an urban area. Typical cycling patterns in the spatial and temporal dimensions are identified automatically by the cluster analysis. It is also found that the construction of the cycling infrastructure is closely related to three factors: non-negligible impact of points of interest (POIs), geographical barriers, and temporal variance of the network. Managerial insights and policy measures are proposed accordingly for improving the cycle lane network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Urban Chinese shared-bicycle riders frequently engage in unsafe behaviors. • Unsafe riding behavior proportions vary across risky behavior types (1.1–97.6%). • Age, education and riding hours are associated with unsafe riding behaviors. • Actions are needed to reduce unsafe riding behaviors among shared-bicycle riders. Shared-bicycle use has skyrocketed in urban China, but little is known about the safety of bicycle users. The Chinese popular media reports multiple risky riding behaviors among shared bicycle riders, but scientific research on the topic is lacking. Therefore, we conducted a retrospective WeChat-based online survey to examine how often shared bicycle riders report engaging in risky cycling behaviors in urban China. Eight unsafe shared bicycle riding behaviors were assessed: not wearing helmets, running red lights, cycling against the traffic flow, riding in lanes designed for motor vehicles, riding in lanes designed for pedestrians, carrying passengers on bicycles, using cell phones while riding, and eating while riding. In total, 1960 valid questionnaires were collected. The proportion of participants who reported always or often having unsafe riding behavior in the past month, ranged from 1.1% for carrying passengers on the bicycles to 97.6% for failing to wear a helmet. Demographic characteristics were associated with unsafe behaviors through multivariate logistic regression, with male riders and riders aged 25 years or younger more likely to ride while using cell phones than females (AOR = 2.94) and those 36 years or older (AOR = 3.57). Cyclists with undergraduate education were more likely to wear helmets than those with postgraduate education or higher (AOR = 0.21). Compared to riders from central municipalities governed directly by the central government, riders from provincial capitals, deputy provincial cities, and smaller cities were at higher risks of riding in lanes for pedestrians, respectively (AOR = 1.59, 2.82 and 1.61). Riders who rode over 5 h a week and who rode on weekends were more likely to carry passengers than those who rode less than 1 h a week (AOR = 4.72) and those who rode only on weekdays (AOR = 3.93). We conclude that shared-bicycle riders frequently engage in some unsafe riding behaviors in urban China. Younger age, lower level of education, and longer hours of riding each week are associated with greater risks of some unsafe riding behaviors. Shared bicycles offer substantial benefit to societal health and transportation, but evidence-based interventions should be considered to reduce risks from unsafe shared bicycle riding behaviors. A well-designed road infrastructure with dedicated on-road bicycle lanes and readily-accessible comfortable, low-cost, and safe helmets may also reduce unsafe riding behaviors and unwanted crashes and injuries for shared bicycle riders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Six built environment elements have significantly effects on travel-related CO 2 emissions. • Destination and transit accessibility have positive effects on travel-related CO 2 emissions. • Increasing road and building density can effectively reduce travel-related CO 2 emissions. • Household car ownership has a directly positive effect on travel-related CO 2 emissions. • Travel attitudes has limited impact on travel behavior and travel-related CO 2 emissions. This study contributes to the understanding of the impacts of the rural built environment on travel-related CO 2 emissions by considering the mediating effects of household car ownership, travel frequency, travel distance, and individual travel attitudes through structural equation modeling. The travel data were collected from an activity diary survey in rural Sichuan. Geographic information system technology, combined with on-site measurement, was used to obtain data on the built environment. After controlling the socio-demographic factors, the model results corroborate that all built environment variables had significant total effects on car ownership, travel distance, travel frequency, and travel emissions. Specifically, residents living in the village with more accessible markets, higher roads, and higher building density travel a shorter distance and emit less CO 2. Meanwhile, residents living in the village with centralized living style and higher transit and destination accessibility travel less frequently but emit more CO 2. Individual travel attitudes have a limited effect on travel behavior and CO 2 emissions. This study suggests that planners and policymakers should consider shortening the distance between destination/transit and residential areas and increasing road and building densities. Moreover, promoting the construction of bicycling facilities and separate bicycle lanes to encourage rural residents to ride electric bicycles, bicycles, and motorcycles will reduce transport CO 2 emission in Chinese rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The primary objective of the study was to identify the factors that influenced the comfort perception of e-bike, e-scooter and bicycle riders in mid-block bicycle lanes on urban streets and to estimate the bicycle level of service (BLOS) of a mid-block bicycle lane with mixed two-wheeled traffic. Data were collected at thirty locations on thirty different streets in Nanjing area in China. Pearson’s Chi-square tests were conducted to make comparisons of the comfort perception among different cyclist groups. The factors that significantly affected the comfort perception of the cyclists included the age of the cyclists, the type of two-wheeled vehicles, the volume of two-wheeled vehicles, the width of mid-block bicycle lanes, the proportions of e-bikes and e-scooters in two-wheeled vehicles, the physical separation between motorized, bicycle and pedestrian lanes, the slope of bicycle lanes, the roadside access points and the roadside land use. Ordered probit models were developed to quantitatively evaluate the impacts of different contributing factors on the comfort perception of the riders of e-bikes, e-scooters and bicycles. The results showed that compared to the riders of bicycles, the riders of e-bikes and e-scooters were more likely to perceive a poor comfort level. The comfort perception of the cyclists increased with an increase in the width of the mid-block bicycle lane, whereas it decreased with an increase in the volume of two-wheeled vehicles. The proportions of e-bikes and e-scooters in two-wheeled vehicles negatively affected the comfort perception of the cyclists. In addition, the presence of physical separation between the motorized, bicycle and pedestrian lanes significantly increased the comfort perception of the cyclists. With the comfort perception models, a procedure was developed and insights were gained to help transportation professionals estimate the BLOS of a mid-block bicycle lane with mixed two-wheeled traffic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An essay is presented which focuses on bicycles of China. Topics discussed include new innovation in cities around the world is the bicycle sharing system with automated facility along with a credit card and return it to another facility elsewhere in the city; bicycle that plays a larger role in urban life by serving as a mobile food stall, repair shop, or low-tech means of transporting goods; and western cities that are rapidly adjusting to the increase in bicycle riders by creating street lanes.

This paper aims to contribute to existing literature on the effects of the built environment on bicycle commuting, examining the case of Beijing. A group of city-wide random samples is analysed. The analysis shows that bicycle commuting is significantly associated with some features of the built environment when many demographic and socioeconomic factors are taken into account. Higher destination accessibility, a higher number of exclusive bicycle lanes, a mixed environment and greater connectivity between local streets tend to increase the use of the bicycle. These effects differ across gender, age and income groups. However, residential density has no significant effects on the use of a bicycle for commuting, while higher levels of public transit services tends to decrease rather than increase bicycle commuting. The results imply that the drastic changes in the built environment are a major reason for the demise of ‘the kingdom of bicycles’ in China. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: This study investigates the impacts of physical environments on bicyclists’ perceptions of comfort on separated and on-street bicycle facilities. Based on a field investigation conducted in Nanjing, China, we find that physical environmental factors significantly influencing bicyclists’ perception of comfort on the two types of facility. Cyclists’ comfort is mainly influenced by the road geometry and surrounding conditions on physically separated paths while they pay attention to the effective riding space and traffic situations on on-street bicycle lanes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• Eye-level greenness was measured based on street view data and machine learning method. • Cycling frequency was measured based on free-floating bicycle-sharing data. • Eye-level greenness showed a positive association with cycling frequency both on weekdays and on weekends. Better bicycle-transit integration improves the efficiency and sustainability of public transportation systems in urban areas. Urban greenness around metro stations may affect the use of cycling to or from metro stations. However, the evidence for the association between urban greenness and cycling behaviors is inconclusive. In addition, few studies have been conducted in developing countries, such as China, which enjoyed the reputation of cycling nation until the late 1990s and witness a big comeback of cycling in the last several years. This study aimed to explore the relationship between eye-level greenness and cycling behaviors around metro stations in Shenzhen, China, based on free-floating bicycle data and street-view image data. The results indicate that eye-level greenness was positively associated with cycling frequency on weekdays and on weekends within three buffer sizes around metro stations (500-m, 1000-m, and 1500-m). The effect of eye-level greenness on cycling frequency was greater on weekends than on weekdays. Our findings suggest that providing sufficient and visible greenery along streets and cycling lanes around metro stations may promote cycling use and bicycle-transit integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We analyze data from a large dockless bike-sharing (DBS) operator in Shenzhen, China. • We examine the effects of the built environment on DBS–metro integrated use. • DBS–metro integration varies noticeably across space and time. • Areas with greater density of metro stations have fewer incidents of integrated use. Bike-sharing provides a convenient feeder mode for connecting to a metro and is believed to be an efficient way to solve the first- and last-mile problem. Despite the increasing attention paid on the use of bike-sharing, few studies have investigated how built environment factors affect the integrated use of dockless bike-sharing (DBS) and the metro. Using data from one of the largest DBS operators in China (Ofo), this paper employed a series of negative binomial regressions to examine the effect of the built environment on the integrated use of DBS and the metro, using Shenzhen as a case study. The findings show that mixed land use is positively related to integrated use. Residential areas have higher access-integrated rates during the morning peak hours, while industrial areas are associated with more integrated uses, connecting factories and metro stations. Furthermore, parks and public squares encourage both access- and egress-integrated use during peak times. Transportation facility features, including bus stops and dedicated bike lanes, are positively related to integrated use, while areas with dense metro distribution and main streets with many intersections are negatively related. Transfer distance also plays a crucial and negative role in integrated use. In addition, metro stations that are closer to the city center with a higher number of passengers are more likely to be integrated with bike-sharing. These findings can be used to collectively facilitate a connection between cycling and metro transit by creating a bicycle-friendly environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]