Bikesharing and equity: A nationwide study of bikesharing accessibility in the U.S

Abstract

Bikesharing has gained global popularity as a sustainable and healthy mobility option in recent years. However, concerns have been raised about the unequal distribution of bikesharing benefits among different geographic areas and social groups. This study aims to assess bikesharing equity at the census block group (CBG) level in 73 U.S. cities as of July 2022, utilizing a non-parametric generalized additive mixed model (GAMM). Our findings indicate that bikesharing equity varies depending on the indicators used to identify disadvantaged communities. We find that bikesharing is equitable for zero-vehicle communities, as they experience higher levels of accessibility. However, for communities characterized by high levels of deprivation and a significant concentration of minorities, females, youth, and senior populations, bikesharing is inequitable, as these disadvantaged communities have limited access to bikesharing stations compared to their more privileged counterparts. These results emphasize the need for future bikesharing equity programs to prioritize expanding service into underserved disadvantaged communities through installing new stations or transitioning into hybrid systems. In addition, this study suggests using Area Deprivation Index scores over 80 and minority population shares exceeding 70% as thresholds to identify disadvantaged communities, which accounted for 13.5% of the CBGs included in our analysis. Furthermore, gender inequality should be considered in transportation planning efforts.

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