Perceived built environment and dockless bikeshare as a feeder mode of metro

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2020.102693Get rights and content

Highlights

  • DBS is the second most popular feeder mode choice of metro.

  • We conceptualize the perceived built environment with “3A + 3S” framework.

  • Effects of certain perceived built environment features differ across scenarios.

  • Effects of perceived land use and POIs on the integrated use are less than expected.

Abstract

In this study, we aim to explore the role of metro users’ perception toward the built environment in shaping the intermodal integration between dockless bikeshare (DBS) and the metro. We propose a “3A + 3S” framework to describe the perceived built environment related to feeder trip by DBS. By analyzing data from a questionnaire survey in Shenzhen, China, we reveal that (1) the perceptions toward the accessibility of metro stations and ease of searching/parking bikes notably increase the odds of DBS–metro integration; (2) the effects of certain perceived built environment features differ across scenarios. Perceived intersection is a barrier factor only for evening egress trips; the perceived bicycle–pedestrian crashes tend to discourage home-side integration; and the perceived bikeways promote integrated use except for the evening egress scenario; and (3) the effects of perceived land use and POIs on the DBS–metro integration are less than expected.

Introduction

China is the largest market of bikeshare in the world, and has seen unprecedented growth in bikeshare over the last decade, particularly dockless bikeshare (DBS) programs (i.e., a new pattern of bikeshare without fixed dock stations) implemented since 2015. Within two years, the number of shared bikes in China has exceeded 23 million (Gu et al., 2019). Without the constraint of being locked to dock stations, the newly prevailing DBS enables users to access bikes more efficiently than traditional docked bikes (Guo and He, 2020). Therefore, DBS provides metro commuters with a more rapid and flexible travel choice than docked bikeshare when connecting with the metro, both for cycling to (access-integrated usage) and from metro stations (egress-integrated usage). An online report in Shenzhen, China reveals that 6.5% of metro users adopt DBS as the feeder mode during commuting peak hours and that in some metro stations, such proportion reaches up to 13%, which is lower and greater than that of walking mode and other modes, respectively. The report also indicates that 54.43% of DBS usage is aimed for commute, whereas 45% is observed during peak hours (Shenzhen Transportation Bureau, 2019).

Among the determinants influencing the integrated usage of bikeshare and metro, the built environment has attracted increasing attention from transportation researchers and urban planners. A growing number of studies have linked various features of the built environment to the bikeshare–metro synergy (Jiet al., 2017, Zhao and Li, 2017, Linet al., 2018, Wuet al., 2019, Guo and He, 2020, Liet al., 2020, Liuet al., 2020). These studies have often measured built environment characteristics by using objective data, such as land use shapefiles, online map data, and census data. Although the correlations between built environment and bikeshare–metro integration have been explored and established objectively, many people, even in environments suitable for bikeshare, do not choose such transport mode as a feeder mode for the metro. This is possible that some built environment attributes might work on the integrated use under specific scenarios, such as access/egress patterns or different time periods. However, to the best of our knowledge, such variance has not been discussed in the literature. Additionally, some scholars have highlighted that the perceptions of people play an important role in shaping their behavioral decisions (Handyet al., 2005, He and Thøgersen, 2017). It is reported that perception often plays a mediating role in determining the association between actual built environment and mode choice, and the actual built environment works on mode choice by influencing the associated perceptions of individuals (Maet al., 2014, Orstadet al., 2017). Therefore, the perception toward built environment (perceived built environment) can directly determine mode choice, and empirically investigating such perception can contribute to the formulation of highly straightforward policies and interventions (Maet al., 2014, Ma and Cao, 2019). With regard to the intermodal behavior of connecting metro transit, some studies have suggested that the perceptions of individuals toward the built environment may inherently reshape their decision to use bikeshare (Mateo-Babiano et al., 2016). However, which built environment attribute perception can determine bikeshare–metro integration remain unknown. Moreover, almost no empirical study has systematically explored the correlation between perceived built environment and the (dockless) bikeshare–metro integration.

To fill this research gap, this work focuses on Shenzhen, China, which is one of the largest cities that have experienced an increase in DBS usage. The study aims to answer three main research questions, particularly by focusing on the bikeshare–metro integrated use for commuting trips during the rush hours. (1) How should we measure the perceived built environment related to feeder trip by bikeshare? (2) What unique perceived attributes of the built environment can significantly affect the integrated usage? (3) Does the impact of these features varies in several scenarios (e.g., access VS. egress, morning VS. evening rush hours)? Accordingly, we propose a “3A + 3S” (i.e., accessibility, availability, attractiveness, supportability, safety, substitutability) framework that describes the perceived built environment. Under this framework, “3A” comprises accessibility, availability, and attractiveness, which are associated with the generation of the bikeshare–metro integrated use. Meanwhile, supportability, safety, and substitutability are summarized as “3S,” which externally affect metro users’ preference of transferring by bikeshare.

The contributions of this study are summarized as follows: (1) investigating the role of perception toward the built environment in shaping the use of DBS as a feeder mode; (2) initially proposing a novel “3A + 3S” framework that contributes to future empirical studies on the association between perceived built environment and bikeshare–metro integration by identifying which dimensions of determinants should be considered; and (3) comparing the effects of perceived built environment features on DBS–metro integration across different scenarios to provide targeted practical implications and interventions.

The rest of this paper is organized as follows. Section 2 reviews the role of perception in affecting model choice and the effect of perceived built environment on cycling. Section 3 proposes a framework measuring the perceived built environment related to the feeder trip by bikeshare. Section 4 describes the methodology, including the study area, data collection and description, and modeling approaches. Section 5 estimates the models of the feeder mode choice under four scenarios, and presents the modeling results with discussions. Lastly, Section 6 concludes this research with key findings and policy implications, and discusses the limitations and avenues for future research.

Section snippets

Role of perception in affecting mode choices

Perception of objects reflects an individual’s interaction with reality and involves his/her awareness of the outside world through his/her primary receptive senses (Sherrington, 1961). In this sense, perception plays an important role in determining the decisions that people make. For instance, their decisions about travel routes, duration, modes, and destinations depend on their perceptions on the quality, conveniences, and cost of travel as well as the qualities of destination opportunities

Scenarios of the synergy of bikeshare and the metro

In general, the integration of bicycles (i.e., private and rental bicycles) and the metro has three patterns (Singleton and Clifton, 2014): (1) bicycle-and-transit (cycling to the transit station or access integration), (2) transit-and-bicycle (cycling from the transit station or egress integration), and (3) bicycle-bring on transit-bicycle (combination of Patterns 1 and 2 and bringing the bicycle aboard). Since the worldwide prevalence of bikeshare in the 2000s, bikeshare has gradually become

Study context

We select Shenzhen, China as our study area. Located on the southern coast of China and adjacent to Hong Kong, Shenzhen is the first special economic zone in the country and has developed rapidly over the past decades. In Shenzhen, the administrative system is composed of three levels, namely, community (社区), sub-district (街道), and district (区). As of 2018, Shenzhen has a total population of 13.02 million and covers an approximately area of 1997 km2, consisting of 10 administrative districts.

Basic descriptive analysis (by DBS adoption)

Table 4 shows the measurements and descriptive statistics of individuals’ travel, socio-demographics, and attitude characteristics obtained from the survey. The table indicates that 13.80% of the respondents choose DBS as their feeder mode for access and egress trips in the morning, whereas 12.17% and 13.62% for access and egress trips, respectively, in the evening. The mode share of DBS is considerably higher than that of the traditional docked bikeshare (public bicycles) as a feeder mode in

Modeling results and discussion

Table 7, Table 8 present the results of the binary logistic regressions corresponding to the four scenarios of feeder trips. The goodness of fit (Nagelkerke R2) ranges between 0.231 and 0.272, which is comparable with those reported in related studies (e.g., Ma and Dill, 2016, Chanet al., 2019), indicating an acceptable model performance (Hosmer and Lemeshow, 2013). Among the four models, access models (i.e., MA and EA models) have a better goodness of fit (Nagelkerke R2) than egress models

Conclusion and policy implications

The integration of bikeshare and transit system could be a promising means of achieving sustainable urban transport. In particular, the DBS–metro integration provides an efficient solution to the long-standing first- and last-mile issues. This study proposes a “3A + 3S” framework to conceptualize the content of perceived built environment related to feeder trips of the metro. Thereafter, a series of binary logistic regressions is developed to explore the impact of metro users’ subjective

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Yuanyuan Guo: Conceptualization, Methodology, Data curation, Formal analysis, Visualization, Writing - original draft. Sylvia Y. He: Supervision, Methodology, Writing - review & editing.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the editors and the anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments and suggestions. This research is partially supported by the Peking University-Lincoln Institute Dissertation Scholarship (2019–2020), awarded to the first author.

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