Abstract

Seeking to reduce carbon emissions and increase active travel, U.S. cities have increasingly adopted bike-sharing systems in recent years. However, despite the growing popularity of and markets for bike-sharing systems, little is known of how users perceive and evaluate their quality. By conducting (1) descriptive analysis of numeric ratings and (2) content analysis of the narrative sections of Yelp reviews, this study investigates the perceived quality of bike-sharing systems and factors affecting such perceptions in three U.S. regions: New York, Washington, D.C., and Chicago. It particularly focuses on regional and temporal variations in users’ evaluations of bike-sharing services, which remains understudied. The results show that the average rating of a bike-sharing system, as well as the factors included in users’ major evaluation criteria and complaint factors, are similar among regions. However, temporal shifts in users’ assessments of bike-sharing systems differ greatly by region, which reflect the different local contextual factors and the resultant regional variations in the bike-sharing service features. In addition to providing valuable guidance for increasing the use of bike-sharing systems, this study suggests that social media content can inform the development of planning solutions that are responsive to users’ needs.

摘要

为了减少碳排放和增加主动出行，美国城市近年来越来越多地采用自行车共享系统。然而，尽管共享单车系统越来越受欢迎和市场越来越大，但用户如何看待和评估其质量却知之甚少。通过 (1) 数字评级的描述性分析和 (2) Yelp 评论的叙述部分的内容分析，本研究调查了美国三个地区的自行车共享系统的感知质量以及影响这种感知的因素：纽约、华盛顿、 DC 和芝加哥。它特别关注用户对共享单车服务评价的区域和时间变化，这一点仍未得到充分研究。结果表明，共享单车系统的平均评分，以及用户主要评价标准所包含的因素和投诉因素，各地区均相似。然而，用户对共享单车系统评估的时间变化因地区而异，这反映了不同的当地环境因素以及由此导致的共享单车服务特征的区域差异。除了为增加共享单车系统的使用提供有价值的指导外，这项研究还表明，社交媒体内容可以为响应用户需求的规划解决方案的开发提供信息。