Rethinking the Utility of Public Bicycles: The Development and Challenges of Station-Less Bike Sharing in China

Jiaoe Wang, Jie Huang and Michael Dunford
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Jiaoe Wang: State Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Information System, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Jie Huang: Key Laboratory of Regional Sustainable Development Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Michael Dunford: Key Laboratory of Regional Sustainable Development Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 6, 1-20

Abstract: Cycling is known to be environmentally friendly and beneficial to public health and sustainable urban development. Cycling has recently increased in Chinese cities as a result of the emergence of station-less bike-sharing systems. This study examines the emergence, rapid growth and consolidation of station-less bike-sharing systems and the role of suppliers, users and government regulators. It shows that these systems developed unevenly, growing most in large cities in eastern and south-eastern China, and explores the relationship between this spatial distribution and the nature of the service and the socio-economic characteristics of cities. To investigate patterns of, and reasons for, the use of these systems, this research also reports the results of a survey of users and non-users, identifying their gender, age, income characteristics and attitudes to station-less systems.

Keywords: public bicycle program; station-less bike-sharing system; sustainable travel; green mobility (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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