IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/oropre/v61y2013i6p1346-1359.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Models for Effective Deployment and Redistribution of Bicycles Within Public Bicycle-Sharing Systems

Author

Listed:
  • Jia Shu

    (Department of Management Science and Engineering, School of Economics and Management, Southeast University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210096, China)

  • Mabel C. Chou

    (Department of Decision Sciences, NUS Business School, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Republic of Singapore)

  • Qizhang Liu

    (Department of Decision Sciences, NUS Business School, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Republic of Singapore)

  • Chung-Piaw Teo

    (Department of Decision Sciences, NUS Business School, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Republic of Singapore)

  • I-Lin Wang

    (Department of Industrial and Information Management, National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan, China)

Abstract

We develop practical operations research models to support decision making in the design and management of public bicycle-sharing systems. We develop a network flow model with proportionality constraints to estimate the flow of bicycles within the network and the number of trips supported, given an initial allocation of bicycles at each station. We also examine the effectiveness of periodic redistribution of bicycles in the network to support greater flow, and the impact on the number of docks needed.We conduct our numerical analysis using transit data from train operators in Singapore. Given that a substantial proportion of passengers in the train system commute a short distance---more than 16% of passengers alight within two stops from the origin---this forms a latent segment of demand for a bicycle-sharing program. We argue that for a bicycle-sharing system to be most effective for this customer segment, the system must deploy the right number of bicycles at the right places, because this affects the utilization rate of the bicycles and how bicycles circulate within the system. We also identify the appropriate operational environments in which periodic redistribution of bicycles will be most effective for improving system performance.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:oropre:v:61:y:2013:i:6:p:1346-1359
    DOI: 10.1287/opre.2013.1215
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/opre.2013.1215
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/opre.2013.1215?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Tal Raviv & Ofer Kolka, 2013. "Optimal inventory management of a bike-sharing station," IISE Transactions, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(10), pages 1077-1093.
    2. 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.
    3. Karthik Natarajan & Chung Piaw Teo & Zhichao Zheng, 2011. "Mixed 0-1 Linear Programs Under Objective Uncertainty: A Completely Positive Representation," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 59(3), pages 713-728, June.
    4. Rahul Nair & Elise Miller-Hooks, 2011. "Fleet Management for Vehicle Sharing Operations," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 45(4), pages 524-540, November.
    5. Ravindra K. Ahuja & James B. Orlin & Giovanni M. Sechi & Paola Zuddas, 1999. "Algorithms for the Simple Equal Flow Problem," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 45(10), pages 1440-1455, October.
    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. 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.
    2. Kaspi, Mor & Raviv, Tal & Tzur, Michal & Galili, Hila, 2016. "Regulating vehicle sharing systems through parking reservation policies: Analysis and performance bounds," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 251(3), pages 969-987.
    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. Ho, Sin C. & Szeto, W.Y., 2014. "Solving a static repositioning problem in bike-sharing systems using iterated tabu search," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 180-198.
    5. Legros, Benjamin, 2019. "Dynamic repositioning strategy in a bike-sharing system; how to prioritize and how to rebalance a bike station," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 272(2), pages 740-753.
    6. Ho, Sin C. & Szeto, W.Y., 2017. "A hybrid large neighborhood search for the static multi-vehicle bike-repositioning problem," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 340-363.
    7. Gilbert Laporte & Frédéric Meunier & Roberto Wolfler Calvo, 2018. "Shared mobility systems: an updated survey," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 271(1), pages 105-126, December.
    8. Forma, Iris A. & Raviv, Tal & Tzur, Michal, 2015. "A 3-step math heuristic for the static repositioning problem in bike-sharing systems," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 230-247.
    9. Saif Benjaafar & Daniel Jiang & Xiang Li & Xiaobo Li, 2022. "Dynamic Inventory Repositioning in On-Demand Rental Networks," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(11), pages 7861-7878, November.
    10. Nair, Rahul & Miller-Hooks, Elise, 2014. "Equilibrium network design of shared-vehicle systems," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 235(1), pages 47-61.
    11. Stokkink, Patrick & Geroliminis, Nikolas, 2021. "Predictive user-based relocation through incentives in one-way car-sharing systems," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 230-249.
    12. Christine Fricker & Nicolas Gast, 2016. "Incentives and redistribution in homogeneous bike-sharing systems with stations of finite capacity," EURO Journal on Transportation and Logistics, Springer;EURO - The Association of European Operational Research Societies, vol. 5(3), pages 261-291, August.
    13. Chiou, Yu-Chiun & Wu, Kuo-Chi, 2024. "Bikesharing: The first- and last-mile service of public transportation? Evidence from an origin–destination perspective," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    14. Bruno Albert Neumann-Saavedra & Teodor Gabriel Crainic & Bernard Gendron & Dirk Christian Mattfeld & Michael Römer, 2020. "Integrating Resource Management in Service Network Design for Bike-Sharing Systems," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 54(5), pages 1251-1271, September.
    15. Rahul Nair & Elise Miller-Hooks, 2016. "Equilibrium design of bicycle sharing systems: the case of Washington D.C," EURO Journal on Transportation and Logistics, Springer;EURO - The Association of European Operational Research Societies, vol. 5(3), pages 321-344, August.
    16. Nourinejad, Mehdi & Zhu, Sirui & Bahrami, Sina & Roorda, Matthew J., 2015. "Vehicle relocation and staff rebalancing in one-way carsharing systems," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 98-113.
    17. 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.
    18. Alvarez-Valdes, Ramon & Belenguer, Jose M. & Benavent, Enrique & Bermudez, Jose D. & Muñoz, Facundo & Vercher, Enriqueta & Verdejo, Francisco, 2016. "Optimizing the level of service quality of a bike-sharing system," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 163-175.
    19. He, Xiaozhou & Wang, Qingyi, 2024. "A stochastic programming model for free-floating shared bike redistribution considering bike gathering," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    20. Repoux, Martin & Kaspi, Mor & Boyacı, Burak & Geroliminis, Nikolas, 2019. "Dynamic prediction-based relocation policies in one-way station-based carsharing systems with complete journey reservations," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 82-104.

    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:inm:oropre:v:61:y:2013:i:6:p:1346-1359. 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: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    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.