01658479

Component

Public bikesharing systems have grown considerably over the last several years, but face criticism for serving primarily a White, affluent residential population. But almost no study has explored whether bikesharing systems similar serve disproportionately high-status employment. This study explores the equity implications of residential and employment characteristics in the service areas of 29 bikesharing systems in the United States. The author finds that consistent with prior research, block groups within a five-minute walk of bicycle stations have a significantly higher proportion of White residents compared to those within a 3200-m radius. There are more mixed results when examining rates of poverty and English proficiency, but systems serve a higher proportion of zero-vehicle households. The author finds consistent results that almost all bikesharing systems serve significantly more higher-income, higher-skilled jobs. The findings suggest that equitable access to employment will be hard to achieve even with targeted inclusion efforts to lower-income person-of-color communities. System planners should rely on integration with public transit to achieve access equity goals.

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ANF20 Standing Committee on Bicycle Transportation.

18-05949

English

0000-0001-8966-5778

2018

Transportation Research Board 97th Annual Meeting

Digital/other

Figures; Maps; References; Tables

Access; Bicycles; Employment; Equity; Ethnic groups; Income; Vehicle sharing

Operations and Traffic Management; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Planning and Forecasting; Society

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2018 Paper #18-05949

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Jan 8 2018 11:32AM