April 24, 2019

Bikesharing systems have been used around the world to increase mobility, recreation, urban health, and sustainability. Use of bikeshare by diverse groups is needed to ensure that benefits are equally afforded to all populations. In the U.S., operators have generally concentrated the docks for station-based bikeshare in dense, urban areas that favor advantaged populations. While many cities have implemented equity strategies that increase access to bike share in low-income and communities of color, station placement remains a barrier. Bikesharing systems that do not require stations (i.e., “dockless,” or “free-floating” bikeshare) launched in North America in 2017. These systems allow users to locate bikes using Global Positioning Systems (GPS), and then lock bikes in place at their destination. This novel model may enhance access to and use of bikeshare by diverse populations, however, to date no work has examined who is using free-floating bikeshare and what barriers diverse groups face to using this bikeshare model.

Jana Hirsch, PhD, MES, assistant research professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the Urban Health Collaborative, is the Principal Investigator of the paper, “Residents in Seattle, WA Report Differential Use of Free-Floating Bikeshare by Age, Gender, Race, and Location.” This examination comes from a broader equity study funded by the Better Bike Share Partnership, a collaboration funded by The JPB Foundation to build equitable and replicable bike share systems. This research examines sociodemographic characteristics of adult residents reporting bikeshare use during the first six months of Seattle, Washington’s pilot free-floating bikeshare.

One-third of Seattle adults surveyed reported trying free-floating bikeshare. These users were disproportionately young, male, White, resided closer to the city center, and already more likely to have or use a bicycle. Safety and social issues were the most commonly reported barriers and drawbacks. These included bikeshare bikes in places they didn’t belong, riders without helmets, lack of trails or protected lanes, and safety in traffic or up hills. Respondents who did not report White or Asian race were more likely to identify geographic access, bicycle size, or cost as barriers. Older respondents were more likely to identify bikeshare parking and sidewalk accessibility as drawbacks.

While uptake within the adult Seattle residents surveyed was high (33%), sociodemographic characteristics of users of the free-floating bikeshare pilot mirrored previous findings from station-based systems across North America. Free-floating bike share systems do shift geographic access, however results show that additional work is needed to encourage use by diverse populations. Every neighborhood in Seattle had access during the pilot, however, neighborhoods with higher levels of education still had more bikes available. To read more about Hirsch’s research on dockless bikeshare and spatial equity click here. Implementing low cost programs for low-income individuals, classes to increase the comfort of users, and a better infrastructure for bike riding such as bike lanes and off-road paths could increase access to a more diverse population. 

Read the full paper here.

Learn more about the UHC project, Freedom from the Station: Spatial Equity in Access to Dockless Bike Share, which examines equity in new models of bikeshare.