Dynamics of bike sharing in Washington, DC and Brisbane, Australia: Implications for policy and planning

Abstract

The rapid growth in public bike-sharing programs (PBSPs) worldwide has left numerous research gaps, particularly related to environmental benefits, social benefits, and data from systems in cities with historically low bicycle ridership. We offer a battery of metrics and present results on their application to Washington, DC’s Capital Bikeshare and Brisbane's CityCycle. These metrics, which examine neighborhood performance and temporal and spatial ridership trends, initiate discussions on the policies and planning that make for a successful PBSP. We found that providing helmets, expanding hours of operation, and adding stations in suburbs with few or no stations leads to higher ridership.