IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v17y2025i5p2291-d1606564.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

On the Use of a Bike-Sharing System in Extreme Weather Events: The Case of Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

Author

Listed:
  • Kayck de Araújo

    (UFRN-PPGDEM, Graduate Program in Demography, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, 59078-900 Natal, Brazil)

  • Luciana Lima

    (UFRN-PPGDEM, Graduate Program in Demography, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, 59078-900 Natal, Brazil)

  • Mariana Andreotti Dias

    (UFRN-PPGDEM, Graduate Program in Demography, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, 59078-900 Natal, Brazil)

  • Daniel G. Costa

    (SYSTEC-ARISE, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal)

  • Ivanovitch Silva

    (UFRN-PPGEEC, Graduate Program in Electrical and Computer Engineering, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, 59078-900 Natal, Brazil)

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the use of a bike-sharing system (BSS) during the flooding event caused by extreme rainfall that hit the municipality of Porto Alegre, Brazil, in May 2024. Public transport services were interrupted, prompting an investigation into the resilience of the BSS during the crisis. Considering data from the Tembici BSS company, a set of approximately 400,000 trips made between 104 stations in the municipality of Porto Alegre from January to May 2024 were analyzed. Daily rainfall data from the National Institute of Meteorology (INMET) were compared with the daily trip flow to identify the travel flow patterns on the days most affected by the flooding. The results indicate an abrupt drop in shared bicycle use during May 2024, but 7600 trips were recorded despite the crisis. Regarding the travel pattern between 1 May and 10 May, most trips were still for recreational purposes (73%), while trips for work and study accounted for 22% of the total, and only 5% were for delivery services. Overall, the resilience of the BSS during the extreme climate event in question points to the continuation of practical daily activities, although with more significant effects on economic-related activities and lesser effects on leisure-related activities.

Suggested Citation

  • Kayck de Araújo & Luciana Lima & Mariana Andreotti Dias & Daniel G. Costa & Ivanovitch Silva, 2025. "On the Use of a Bike-Sharing System in Extreme Weather Events: The Case of Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(5), pages 1-21, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:5:p:2291-:d:1606564
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/5/2291/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/5/2291/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Anna Eliza Wolnowska & Lech Kasyk, 2024. "Study of the Demand for Ecological Means of Transport in Micromobility: A Case of Bikesharing in Szczecin, Poland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(9), pages 1-33, April.
    2. Nate Kauffman & Kristina Hill, 2021. "Climate Change, Adaptation Planning and Institutional Integration: A Literature Review and Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-28, September.
    3. Jianke Cheng & Liyang Hu & Da Lei & Hui Bi, 2024. "How Bike-Sharing Affects the Accessibility Equity of Public Transit Systems—Evidence from Nanjing," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-30, December.
    4. Elliot Fishman, 2016. "Bikeshare: A Review of Recent Literature," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(1), pages 92-113, January.
    5. Zheng Wen & Dongwei Tian & Naiming Wu, 2024. "Modeling and Analyzing the Spatiotemporal Travel Patterns of Bike Sharing: A Case Study of Citi Bike in New York," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(1), pages 1-21, December.
    6. Wang, Xu & Sun, Huijun & Zhang, Si & Lv, Ying & Li, Tongfei, 2022. "Bike sharing rebalancing problem with variable demand," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 591(C).
    7. Fanying Zheng & Fu Gu & Wujie Zhang & Jianfeng Guo, 2019. "Is Bicycle Sharing an Environmental Practice? Evidence from a Life Cycle Assessment Based on Behavioral Surveys," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-25, March.
    8. Tao Ji & Yanhong Yao & Yue Dou & Shejun Deng & Shijun Yu & Yunqiang Zhu & Huajun Liao, 2022. "The Impact of Climate Change on Urban Transportation Resilience to Compound Extreme Events," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-16, March.
    9. Baltazar, Julien & Bouillass, Ghada & Vallet, Flore & Puchinger, Jakob & Perry, Nicolas, 2024. "Integrating environmental issues into the design of mobility plans: Insights from French practices," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 1-14.
    10. de Oliveira, Gisliany L.A. & Silva, Ivanovitch & Lima, Luciana & Costa, Daniel G., 2023. "A composite indicator of liveability based on sociodemographic and Uber quality service dimensions: A data-driven approach," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 97-115.
    11. Franklin Oliveira & Dilan Nery & Daniel G. Costa & Ivanovitch Silva & Luciana Lima, 2021. "A Survey of Technologies and Recent Developments for Sustainable Smart Cycling," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-28, March.
    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. Mohammad Anwar Alattar & Caitlin Cottrill & Mark Beecroft, 2021. "Sources and Applications of Emerging Active Travel Data: A Review of the Literature," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-17, June.
    2. Haotian Ma & Xinlu Chen & Zhilei Zhen & Qian Wang, 2023. "Bicycle-sharing in Beijing: An Assessment of Economic, Environmental, and Health Effects, and Identification of Key Drivers of Environmental Performance," Networks and Spatial Economics, Springer, vol. 23(1), pages 285-316, March.
    3. Xinwei Ma & Ruiming Cao & Jianbiao Wang, 2019. "Effects of Psychological Factors on Modal Shift from Car to Dockless Bike Sharing: A Case Study of Nanjing, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(18), pages 1-16, September.
    4. Mehzabin Tuli, Farzana & Mitra, Suman & Crews, Mariah B., 2021. "Factors influencing the usage of shared E-scooters in Chicago," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 154(C), pages 164-185.
    5. Ahmed Kheiri & Alina G. Dragomir & David Mueller & Joaquim Gromicho & Caroline Jagtenberg & Jelke J. Hoorn, 2019. "Tackling a VRP challenge to redistribute scarce equipment within time windows using metaheuristic algorithms," EURO Journal on Transportation and Logistics, Springer;EURO - The Association of European Operational Research Societies, vol. 8(5), pages 561-595, December.
    6. Zheng Wen & Dongwei Tian & Naiming Wu, 2024. "Modeling and Analyzing the Spatiotemporal Travel Patterns of Bike Sharing: A Case Study of Citi Bike in New York," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(1), pages 1-21, December.
    7. 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.
    8. Radzimski, Adam & Dzięcielski, Michał, 2021. "Exploring the relationship between bike-sharing and public transport in Poznań, Poland," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 189-202.
    9. Yuxin Liu & Jian Fang & Sha Mu & Yihan Zhang & Xiaoli Wang & Lili Lyu, 2025. "Evaluation and future projection of compound extreme events in China using CMIP6 models," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 178(2), pages 1-24, February.
    10. 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.
    11. Lu Cheng & Zhifu Mi & D’Maris Coffman & Jing Meng & Dining Liu & Dongfeng Chang, 2022. "The Role of Bike Sharing in Promoting Transport Resilience," Networks and Spatial Economics, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 567-585, September.
    12. Nikolaos-Fivos Galatoulas & Konstantinos N. Genikomsakis & Christos S. Ioakimidis, 2020. "Spatio-Temporal Trends of E-Bike Sharing System Deployment: A Review in Europe, North America and Asia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-17, June.
    13. An, Ran & Zahnow, Renee & Pojani, Dorina & Corcoran, Jonathan, 2019. "Weather and cycling in New York: The case of Citibike," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 97-112.
    14. Jiang, Zhoutong & Lei, Chao & Ouyang, Yanfeng, 2020. "Optimal investment and management of shared bikes in a competitive market," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 143-155.
    15. Zhang, Ziru & Krishnakumari, Panchamy & Schulte, Frederik & van Oort, Niels, 2023. "Improving the service of E-bike sharing by demand pattern analysis: A data-driven approach," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    16. Ding, Hongliang & Lu, Yuhuan & Sze, N.N. & Li, Haojie, 2022. "Effect of dockless bike-sharing scheme on the demand for London Cycle Hire at the disaggregate level using a deep learning approach," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 150-163.
    17. Nessa Winston, 2021. "Sustainable community development: Integrating social and environmental sustainability for sustainable housing and communities," Working Papers 202106, Geary Institute, University College Dublin.
    18. Álvaro Aguilera-García & Juan Gomez & Natalia Sobrino & Juan José Vinagre Díaz, 2021. "Moped Scooter Sharing: Citizens’ Perceptions, Users’ Behavior, and Implications for Urban Mobility," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-26, June.
    19. Yiling Deng & Pengjun Zhao, 2023. "The determinants of shared bike use in China," Transportation, Springer, vol. 50(1), pages 1-23, February.
    20. Ali Al-Ramini & Mohammad A Takallou & Daniel P Piatkowski & Fadi Alsaleem, 2022. "Quantifying changes in bicycle volumes using crowdsourced data," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 49(6), pages 1612-1630, July.

    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:17:y:2025:i:5:p:2291-:d:1606564. 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.