IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v10y2018i11p4214-d183092.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Sustainable Existence of China’s Bicycle-Sharing Market: To Oversupply or to Disappear

Author

Listed:
  • Xi Chen

    (School of Business and Tourism Management, Yunnan University, Kunming 650091, China)

  • Qixing Qu

    (School of Information, University of International Business and Economics, Beijing 100029, China)

  • Ming-Hsiang Chen

    (School of Hospitality Business Management, Carson College of Business, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-4742, USA)

  • Shaofen Fang

    (School of Business and Tourism Management, Yunnan University, Kunming 650091, China)

  • Yi Cheng

    (School of Business and Tourism Management, Yunnan University, Kunming 650091, China)

Abstract

Most cities in China benefit from having a commercial and public bicycle-sharing system. However, the bicycle-sharing markets still face unbalanced development problems, i.e., initial rapid expansion in most areas, and a recent disappearance in some local areas. Thus, the economic features and rules of this market need further exploration to introduce better management measures. Based on agent-based modeling, the current paper stimulated the interactions between supply and demand with two models to illuminate the supply characteristics of the bicycle-sharing market. The main findings included the following: (1) the bicycle-sharing market is governed by a set of objective laws which naturally require an oversupply, meaning that the attainment of a high level of user satisfaction depends on high supply; (2) based on each customer’s tolerance level, there is a supply density threshold that determines the existence and disappearance of the market; and (3) the width and elasticity of the supply density threshold are influenced by the tolerance of the customers, which, in turn, reflects their values and attitudes. The current research is a preliminary exploration of the interactive characteristics of supply and demand in the bicycle-sharing market. We believe that the current paper provides insights and implications to illuminate the law of existence in the bicycle-sharing market. It also includes a discussion on the sustainable development of the bicycle-sharing market in China.

Suggested Citation

  • Xi Chen & Qixing Qu & Ming-Hsiang Chen & Shaofen Fang & Yi Cheng, 2018. "The Sustainable Existence of China’s Bicycle-Sharing Market: To Oversupply or to Disappear," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-16, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:11:p:4214-:d:183092
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/11/4214/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/11/4214/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Crowder, Martin & Hand, David J. & Krzanowski, Wojtek, 2007. "On optimal intervention for customer lifetime value," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 183(3), pages 1550-1559, December.
    2. Barnes, Stuart J. & Mattsson, Jan, 2016. "Understanding current and future issues in collaborative consumption: A four-stage Delphi study," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 200-211.
    3. Belk, Russell, 2014. "You are what you can access: Sharing and collaborative consumption online," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 67(8), pages 1595-1600.
    4. Médard de Chardon, Cyrille & Caruso, Geoffrey & Thomas, Isabelle, 2017. "Bicycle sharing system ‘success’ determinants," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 202-214.
    5. Jia Shu & Mabel C. Chou & Qizhang Liu & Chung-Piaw Teo & I-Lin Wang, 2013. "Models for Effective Deployment and Redistribution of Bicycles Within Public Bicycle-Sharing Systems," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 61(6), pages 1346-1359, December.
    6. Juelin Yin & Lixian Qian & Anusorn Singhapakdi, 2018. "Erratum to: Sharing Sustainability: How Values and Ethics Matter in Consumers’ Adoption of Public Bicycle-Sharing Scheme," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 149(2), pages 333-333, May.
    7. Kaplan, Sigal & Wrzesinska, Dagmara K. & Prato, Carlo G., 2018. "The role of human needs in the intention to use conventional and electric bicycle sharing in a driving-oriented country," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 138-146.
    8. Lin, Jenn-Rong & Yang, Ta-Hui, 2011. "Strategic design of public bicycle sharing systems with service level constraints," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(2), pages 284-294, March.
    9. Shaheen, Susan, 2002. "Shared-Use Vehicle Systems," Institute of Transportation Studies, Research Reports, Working Papers, Proceedings qt8m2060r1, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Berkeley.
    10. Juelin Yin & Lixian Qian & Anusorn Singhapakdi, 2018. "Sharing Sustainability: How Values and Ethics Matter in Consumers’ Adoption of Public Bicycle-Sharing Scheme," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 149(2), pages 313-332, May.
    11. Shaheen, Susan, 2002. "Shared-Use Vehicle Systems," Institute of Transportation Studies, Working Paper Series qt8m2060r1, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Davis.
    12. Juho Hamari & Mimmi Sjöklint & Antti Ukkonen, 2016. "The sharing economy: Why people participate in collaborative consumption," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 67(9), pages 2047-2059, September.
    13. Shaheen, Susan & Guzman, Stacey & Zhang, Hua, 2010. "Bikesharing in Europe, the Americas, and Asia: Past, Present, and Future," Institute of Transportation Studies, Working Paper Series qt79v822k5, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Davis.
    14. Qianting Zhu & Keran Duan & Jing Wu & Zheng Wang, 2016. "Agent-Based Modeling of Global Carbon Trading and Its Policy Implications for China in the Post-Kyoto Era," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(6), pages 1348-1360, June.
    15. Wei, Hejie & Fan, Weiguo & Wang, Xuechao & Lu, Nachuan & Dong, Xiaobin & Zhao, Yanan & Ya, Xijia & Zhao, Yifei, 2017. "Integrating supply and social demand in ecosystem services assessment: A review," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 15-27.
    16. J. Doyne Farmer & Duncan Foley, 2009. "The economy needs agent-based modelling," Nature, Nature, vol. 460(7256), pages 685-686, August.
    17. Frank Boons & Wouter Spekkink, 2012. "Levels of Institutional Capacity and Actor Expectations about Industrial Symbiosis," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 16(1), pages 61-69, February.
    18. Shaheen, Susan A & Guzman, Stacey & Zhang, Hua, 2010. "Bikesharing in Europe, the Americas, and Asia: Past, Present and Future," Institute of Transportation Studies, Research Reports, Working Papers, Proceedings qt6qg8q6ft, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Berkeley.
    19. W. Brian Arthur & Paul Tayler, "undated". "Asset Pricing Under Endogenous Expectations in an Artificial Stock Market," Computing in Economics and Finance 1997 57, Society for Computational Economics.
    20. Sharad Borle & Siddharth S. Singh & Dipak C. Jain, 2008. "Customer Lifetime Value Measurement," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 54(1), pages 100-112, January.
    21. Kaifang Zheng & Suling Jia, 2017. "Promoting the Opportunity Identification of Industrial Symbiosis: Agent-Based Modeling Inspired by Innovation Diffusion Theory," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(5), pages 1-24, May.
    22. Joshua M. Epstein & Robert L. Axtell, 1996. "Growing Artificial Societies: Social Science from the Bottom Up," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262550253, April.
    23. Gerard P. J. Dijkema & Lauren Basson, 2009. "Complexity and Industrial Ecology," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 13(2), pages 157-164, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Peng Shao & Jie Liang, 2019. "An Analysis of the Factors Influencing the Sustainable Use Intention of Urban Shared Bicycles in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-13, May.
    2. Shuo Zhang & Li Chen & Yingzi Li, 2021. "Shared Bicycle Distribution Connected to Subway Line Considering Citizens’ Morning Peak Social Characteristics for Urban Low-Carbon Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-19, August.
    3. Daozhi Zhao & Di Wang, 2019. "The Research of Tripartite Collaborative Governance on Disorderly Parking of Shared Bicycles Based on the Theory of Planned Behavior and Motivation Theories—A Case of Beijing, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(19), pages 1-21, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Peng Shao & Jie Liang, 2019. "An Analysis of the Factors Influencing the Sustainable Use Intention of Urban Shared Bicycles in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-13, May.
    2. Mix, Richard & Hurtubia, Ricardo & Raveau, Sebastián, 2022. "Optimal location of bike-sharing stations: A built environment and accessibility approach," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 160(C), pages 126-142.
    3. Çelebi, Dilay & Yörüsün, Aslı & Işık, Hanife, 2018. "Bicycle sharing system design with capacity allocations," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 86-98.
    4. Zhao, De & Ong, Ghim Ping & Wang, Wei & Hu, Xiao Jian, 2019. "Effect of built environment on shared bicycle reallocation: A case study on Nanjing, China," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 73-88.
    5. Wei, Xiaoyong & Lo, Chris.K.Y. & Jung, Sojin & Choi, Tsan-Ming, 2021. "From co-consumption to co-production: A systematic review and research synthesis of collaborative consumption practices," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 282-294.
    6. Fu, Chenyi & Zhu, Ning & Ma, Shoufeng & Liu, Ronghui, 2022. "A two-stage robust approach to integrated station location and rebalancing vehicle service design in bike-sharing systems," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 298(3), pages 915-938.
    7. Julia Winslow & Oksana Mont, 2019. "Bicycle Sharing: Sustainable Value Creation and Institutionalisation Strategies in Barcelona," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-27, January.
    8. Gu, Tianqi & Kim, Inhi & Currie, Graham, 2019. "To be or not to be dockless: Empirical analysis of dockless bikeshare development in China," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 122-147.
    9. Alexandros Nikitas, 2019. "How to Save Bike-Sharing: An Evidence-Based Survival Toolkit for Policy-Makers and Mobility Providers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-17, June.
    10. Levy, Nadav & Golani, Chen & Ben-Elia, Eran, 2019. "An exploratory study of spatial patterns of cycling in Tel Aviv using passively generated bike-sharing data," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 325-334.
    11. Schuijbroek, J. & Hampshire, R.C. & van Hoeve, W.-J., 2017. "Inventory rebalancing and vehicle routing in bike sharing systems," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 257(3), pages 992-1004.
    12. Mohammed Elhenawy & Hesham A. Rakha & Youssef Bichiou & Mahmoud Masoud & Sebastien Glaser & Jack Pinnow & Ahmed Stohy, 2021. "A Feasible Solution for Rebalancing Large-Scale Bike Sharing Systems," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-19, December.
    13. Lijuan Wang & Songbai Liu, 2020. "Study on the Influencing Factors and Consumer Behaviors of Bicycle Sharing in Beijing," International Journal of Marketing Studies, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 11(1), pages 1-40, March.
    14. Jing Lan & Yuge Ma & Dajian Zhu & Diana Mangalagiu & Thomas F. Thornton, 2017. "Enabling Value Co-Creation in the Sharing Economy: The Case of Mobike," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-20, August.
    15. Shuang Ma & Huimin Gu & Daniel P. Hampson & Yonggui Wang, 2020. "Enhancing Customer Civility in the Peer-to-Peer Economy: Empirical Evidence from the Hospitality Sector," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 167(1), pages 77-95, November.
    16. Park, Hyejune & Joyner Armstrong, Cosette M., 2019. "Will “no-ownership†work for apparel?: Implications for apparel retailers," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 66-73.
    17. Linfeng Li & Miyuan Shan & Ying Li & Sheng Liang, 2017. "A Dynamic Programming Model for Operation Decision-Making in Bicycle Sharing Systems under a Sustainable Development Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(6), pages 1-21, June.
    18. Elżbieta Macioszek & Paulina Świerk & Agata Kurek, 2020. "The Bike-Sharing System as an Element of Enhancing Sustainable Mobility—A Case Study based on a City in Poland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-29, April.
    19. Jinyi Zhou & Changyuan Jing & Xiangjun Hong & Tian Wu, 2019. "Winter Sabotage: The Three-Way Interactive Effect of Gender, Age, and Season on Public Bikesharing Usage," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-14, June.
    20. Ma, Xinwei & Zhang, Shuai & Wu, Tao & Yang, Yizhe & Yu, Jiajie, 2023. "Can dockless and docked bike-sharing substitute each other? Evidence from Nanjing, China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:11:p:4214-:d:183092. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.