IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v16y2024i14p6209-d1439233.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Are We Back to Normal? A Bike Sharing Systems Mobility Analysis in the Post-COVID-19 Era

Author

Listed:
  • Alexandra Cortez-Ordoñez

    (ViRVIG Group, Department of Computer Science, Universidad Politécnica de Catalunya, 08034 Barcelona, Spain)

  • Ana Belén Tulcanaza-Prieto

    (Grupo de Investigación Lugar Medio Sociedad (LMS), Escuela de Negocios, Universidad de Las Américas (UDLA), Vía a Nayón, Quito 170124, Ecuador)

Abstract

In recent years, numerous cities around the world have adopted bike sharing systems (BSSs). The increasing popularity of these transportation means is directly related to their eco-friendly and health advantages. Several factors affect how citizens make use of BSS, for instance, the size and configuration of a city, where docking stations are located, the associated prices, and others. Moreover, these systems have different usage patterns that vary according to the month, day, or hour but remain constant when compared yearly. However, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic modified mobility behaviors as various governments around the world implemented mobility restrictions to avoid the spread of the virus. The objective of this investigation is to determine if the usage patterns of BSSs have changed permanently or if we have recovered pre-pandemic levels and usage patterns. Given the special characteristics of each BSS, this study focuses on Barcelona’s BSS, called Bicing. To understand the impact of other BSSs, the further analysis of each system’s unique characteristics is necessary. The study employs bike usage information from the public open data service maintained by Barcelona City Hall, namely, the Open Data BCN website, from January 2019 to December 2023, and it covers mechanical and electrical bikes with more than 4 million records per month. The results show that usage patterns were similar before and after the pandemic; the usage increased in 2021 and 2022 and stabilized in 2023, registering a rise of 17.5% in Bicing usage from 2021 to 2023. However, bike type preferences have changed for reasons unrelated to the pandemic restrictions. The main limitation of this investigation is the lack of continuity in the data due to a change in the company that provides the service in Barcelona. For future research, data from other transportation means can be used to analyze all communication behavior in this city. Additionally, if data are available, a study by gender and age can be performed and used to improve the system for certain groups.

Suggested Citation

  • Alexandra Cortez-Ordoñez & Ana Belén Tulcanaza-Prieto, 2024. "Are We Back to Normal? A Bike Sharing Systems Mobility Analysis in the Post-COVID-19 Era," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(14), pages 1-19, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:14:p:6209-:d:1439233
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/14/6209/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/14/6209/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ruben Talavera-Garcia & Gustavo Romanillos & Daniela Arias-Molinares, 2021. "Examining spatio-temporal mobility patterns of bike-sharing systems: the case of BiciMAD (Madrid)," Journal of Maps, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(1), pages 7-13, January.
    2. Alexandra Cortez-Ordoñez & Ana Belén Tulcanaza-Prieto, 2023. "The Effect of Gender and Age in Small Bicycle Sharing Systems: Case Study from Logroño, Spain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-17, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Gutierrez-Lythgoe, Antonio, 2023. "Movilidad urbana sostenible: Predicción de demanda con Inteligencia Artificial [Sustainable Urban Mobility: Demand Prediction with Artificial Intelligence]," MPRA Paper 117103, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Ruben Talavera-Garcia & Rocío Pérez-Campaña, 2021. "Applying a Pedestrian Level of Service in the Context of Social Distancing: The Case of the City of Madrid," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-21, October.
    3. Liu, Hung-Chi & Lin, Jen-Jia, 2022. "Associations of built environments with spatiotemporal patterns of shared scooter use: A comparison with shared bike use," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 107-119.
    4. Cubells, Jerònia & Miralles-Guasch, Carme & Marquet, Oriol, 2023. "Gendered travel behaviour in micromobility? Travel speed and route choice through the lens of intersecting identities," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    5. Dong, Xiaoyang & Zhang, Bin & Wang, Zhaohua, 2023. "Impact of land use on bike-sharing travel patterns: Evidence from large scale data analysis in China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    6. Alexandra Cortez-Ordoñez & Ana Belén Tulcanaza-Prieto, 2023. "The Effect of Gender and Age in Small Bicycle Sharing Systems: Case Study from Logroño, Spain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-17, May.

    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:16:y:2024:i:14:p:6209-:d:1439233. 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.