Influence of Electronic-Docking Stations on China’s Dockless Bikesharing Programs: Evidence from Beijing

Electronic-docking stations have been proposed and tested by some Chinese cities to address the issue of disorderly parking of dockless bikesharing programs. We study the influence of electronic-docking stations on dockless bikesharing programs, and measure and explain riders’ preferences toward dockless bikesharing and electronic-docking stations. These research questions are addressed by a mixed logit model and regression models based on stated preference survey data collected in Beijing. We obtain some interesting empirical results which offer some guidance for governments and operators to facilitate the sustainable development of dockless bikesharing programs. For instance, we find that riders are sensitive to the density for electronic-docking stations, but somewhat indifferent to the rental fee of 1–2 yuan for each ride; the choice probability of riding a dockless shared bike drops by about 8–9% when access or egress time increases by 5 min; the fraction of riders interested in dockless bikesharing programs is close to 100%, while launching electronic-docking stations reduces this number to 88%; riders are willing to pay about 1.0–1.1 yuan to save access or egress time by 5 min; riders who live or work away from public transit stations or who often engage in physical exercises are interested in dockless bikesharing programs; and riders indifferent to the introduction of electronic-docking stations mainly include those who are above 26 years old and those with monthly income less than or equal to 8000 yuan.