Environmental correlates of dock-less shared bicycle trip origins and destinations

It remains unclear whether environmental conditions, including bicycle lane provision, are factors in dock-less bicycle uptake at the decision point. In conditions of generous bicycle supply and the ability to park a bicycle almost anywhere, it is important to know what local conditions might be influential in its use. The present study considered the role of 13 environmental factors in uptake and deposit rates by street segment, in a sample from a database of more than 3 m records over a ten-day period in May 2017, in Beijing, China. Street segments, defined by intersections, were coded for environmental factors using satellite and street view imagery. Uptake and especially deposit rates vary greatly by street segment and by local area. Linear regression reveals that 6 factors are highly significant in higher uptake and deposit – the presence of a dedicated bicycle pathway, street lighting, sidewalks, bicycle parking lots, POI density, and street segment length – while 3 were highly significant in lower uptake rates – interruptions in bicycle lane continuity, distance to the metro station, and elaborate environmental design. Altogether, environmental factors account for 42.4% of the variance in local bicycle trip origins and 38.7% of variance in destinations on street segments. This research contributes new understanding of the important role of local environmental factors in higher bicycle mode share in the context of a dock-less rental bicycle system.