Exploring trip characteristics of bike-sharing system uses: Effects of land-use patterns and pricing scheme change

Facing the rapidly growing popularity of bike-sharing systems worldwide, this study explores the trip characteristics of using public bikes at the level of zonal Origin-Destination (O-D) pairs, particularly with respect to the effect of pricing scheme change. Based on the transaction records of Youbike, a bike-sharing system in Taipei, Taiwan, which contain data before and after an increase of the rental fee (as the cancellation of a free-usage period for the first 30-minute), the associated demand-side responses are studied in the context of multivariate analysis. Two regression models are developed thereupon to investigate the effect of the change on the O-D demand associated various land-use patterns. A multiple linear regression model is developed for direct before-after analysis on the variation of zonal O-D demand. A finite mixture model is further constructed, which identifies three usage groups with different levels of sensitivity toward the price change. Both models suggest that the pricing scheme change have greater impact on short-distance trips and O-D pairs where alternative transit services are provided; these affected trips can be generally related to frequent users. Such research findings enable better understanding of the usage pattern of bike-sharing systems, which can benefit the associated planning and operation. They also imply the trade-off between the perspective of encouraging greener mobility and other managerial principles regarding public transportation and government subsidy. Keywords: Bike sharing system, Pricing scheme, Land use pattern, User-pays principle, Before-after analysis