Bike-sharing systems rebalancing considering redistribution proportions: A user-based repositioning approach

Yuhan Zhang, Yichang Shao, Hui Bi, Li Aoyong and Zhirui Ye

Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 2023, vol. 610, issue C

Abstract: Bike-sharing systems have become an indispensable transportation mode due to the environmental friendliness and shareability in the sustainable cities development process. However, the asymmetry of people’s travel patterns during the morning and evening rush hours has contributed to the imbalance in bike inventory. Consequently, station rentals and returns require redistribution to address the rebalancing of bikes. In this paper, a user-based repositioning method through a bi-level programming model is proposed. With the objective of minimizing the repositioning workload, the upper-level model yields redistribution proportions that enable the balance between rentals and returns at the station. In addition, aiming at maximum user profit, the lower-level model calculates a redistribution matrix between station pairs and provides recommended stations for users. Finally, three levels of evaluation indicators for the bike-sharing system, operators, and users are presented. The results indicate that the proposed user-based repositioning is remarkably effective in improving the bike inventory balance and the station’s turnover rate. This study provides a novel idea for the bike-sharing repositioning problem and contributes to the improvement of urban transportation.

Keywords: Bike-sharing system; User-based repositioning; Bi-level programming model; Incentivization; Sustainable transport (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378437122009670
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only. Journal offers the option of making the article available online on Science direct for a fee of $3,000

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:610:y:2023:i:c:s0378437122009670

DOI: 10.1016/j.physa.2022.128409

Access Statistics for this article

Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications is currently edited by K. A. Dawson, J. O. Indekeu, H.E. Stanley and C. Tsallis

More articles in Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().