Bike-share rebalancing strategies, patterns, and purpose

Médard de Chardon, Cyrille

Abstract

We provide a first spatio-temporal exploration of bicycle sharing system (BSS) rebalancing patterns from data extracted for individual stations at a fine temporal scale and operator interviews. Analyzing rebalancing operations for nine BSS, we describe implications for operators, municipalities, and future optimization work. We find that stations adjacent to transit hubs receive disproportionate amounts of rebalancing relative to trips and that rebalancing is more often responding to morning and afternoon demand exceeding station dock capacities rather than longer term accumulations of bicycles. More importantly, we observe some operator’ rebalancing behaviors constrained between opposing goals of maximizing trips, profits, and service level agreements. Many BSS have no explicitly defined purpose, but existing rebalancing strategies can support or clash with the purpose or suggested benefits of a BSS.

Citation

Médard de Chardon, C., Caruso, G., & Thomas, I. (2016). Bike-share rebalancing strategies, patterns, and purpose. Journal of transport geography, 55, 22-39. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2016.07.003

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 5, 2016
• Online Publication Date: Jul 17, 2016
• Publication Date: 2016-07
• Deposit Date: Sep 12, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 13, 2019
• Journal: Journal of Transport Geography
• Print ISSN: 0966-6923
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 55
• Pages: 22-39
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2016.07.003
• Keywords: Bike-share; Bicycle sharing systems; Rebalancing; Spatial analysis
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/696130
• Publisher URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0966692316300114?via%3Dihub