Examining spatiotemporal changing patterns of bike-sharing usage during COVID-19 pandemic

Songhua Hu, Chenfeng Xiong, Zhanqin Liu and Lei Zhang

Journal of Transport Geography, 2021, vol. 91, issue C

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a globally unprecedented change in human mobility. Leveraging two-year bike-sharing trips from the largest bike-sharing program in Chicago, this study examines the spatiotemporal evolution of bike-sharing usage across the pandemic and compares it with other modes of transport. A set of generalized additive (mixed) models are fitted to identify relationships and delineate nonlinear temporal interactions between station-level daily bike-sharing usage and various independent variables including socio-demographics, land use, transportation features, station characteristics, and COVID-19 infections. Results show: 1) the proportion of commuting trips is substantially lower during the pandemic; 2) the trend of bike-sharing usage follows an “increase-decrease-rebound” pattern; 3) bike-sharing presents as a more resilient option compared with transit, driving, and walking; 4) regions with more white, Asian, and fewer African-American residents are found to become less dependent on bike-sharing; 5) open space and residential areas exhibit less decrease and earlier start-to-recover time; 6) stations near the city center, with more docks, or located in high-income areas go from more increase before the pandemic to more decrease during the pandemic. Findings provide a timely understanding of bike-sharing usage changes and offer suggestions on how different stakeholders should respond to this unprecedented crisis.

Keywords: COVID-19; Human mobility; Bike-sharing; Socio-economic disparity; Nonlinearity; Generalized additive mixed model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (36)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jotrge:v:91:y:2021:i:c:s0966692321000508

DOI: 10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2021.102997

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