Abstract Dockless bikeshare systems show potential for replacing traditional dock-based systems, primarily by offering greater flexibility for bike returns. However, many cities in the US currently regulate the maximum number of bikes a dockless system can deploy due to bicycle management issues. Despite inventory management challenges, dockless systems offer two main advantages over dock-based systems: a lower (sometimes zero) membership fee, and being free-range (or, at least free-range within designated service areas). Moreover, these two advantages may help to solve existing access barriers for disadvantaged populations. To date, much of the research on micro-mobility options has focused on addressing equity issues in dock-based systems. We have limited knowledge of the extent to which dockless systems can help mitigate barriers to bikeshare for disadvantaged populations. Using San Francisco as a case study, because the city has both dock-based and dockless systems running concurrently, we quantify bikeshare service levels for communities of concern (CoCs) by analyzing the spatial distribution of service areas, available bikes and bike idle times, trip data, and rebalancing among dock-based and dockless systems. We find that dockless systems can provide greater availability of bikes for CoCs than for other communities, attracting more trip demand in these communities because of a larger service area and frequent bike rebalancing practices. More importantly, we notice that the existence of electric bikes helps mitigate the bikeshare usage gap between CoCs and other tracts. Our results provide policy insights to local municipalities on how to properly regulate dockless bikeshare systems to improve equity.

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提高公平的服务水平：哪个可以解决更好的无桩或基于桩的共享单车系统？

摘要 无桩共享单车系统显示出取代传统基于桩的系统的潜力，主要是通过为自行车归还提供更大的灵活性。然而，由于自行车管理问题，美国的许多城市目前对无桩系统可以部署的最大自行车数量进行了规定。尽管存在库存管理挑战，但无坞站系统与基于坞站的系统相比具有两个主要优势：会员费较低（有时为零），以及可自由放养（或至少在指定服务区域内放养）。此外，这两个优势可能有助于解决弱势群体现有的获取障碍。迄今为止，大部分关于微型移动选项的研究都集中在解决基于码头的系统中的公平问题。我们对无桩系统可以在多大程度上帮助弱势群体减轻共享单车的障碍知之甚少。以旧金山为例，由于该市同时运行基于码头和无码头的系统，我们通过分析服务区域的空间分布、可用自行车和自行车闲置时间来量化关注社区 (CoC) 的共享单车服务水平，旅行数据，以及基于坞站和无坞站系统之间的重新平衡。我们发现，与其他社区相比，无桩系统可以为 CoC 提供更多的自行车可用性，由于更大的服务区域和频繁的自行车再平衡实践，这些社区吸引了更多的出行需求。更重要的是，我们注意到电动自行车的存在有助于缩小 CoC 与其他领域之间的共享单车使用差距。