The Integration of Public Bicycle and Metro Transit: A Case Study in Suzhou, China

Metro transit is a modern mode of transport that is effective in relieving the traffic load on the urban transport infrastructure, thus reducing traffic congestion. However, one notable disadvantage associated with metro transport lies in its heavy reliance on access and egress. In contrast, public bicycle (docked and dockless) is regarded as a promising supplementary mode to metro. There is very limited research focusing on individual decision over transfer between public bicycle and metro. This study makes contribution to growing literature on the integration of public bicycle and metro by conducting investigation into transfer choice preferences at a trip level. The decision process is researched using multinomial logit model and nested logit model where the utility is affected by individual attributes (such as age and gender), trip attributes (such as trip distance), bicycle infrastructure variables, and land use as well as built environment attributes. The proposed quantitative analysis is conducted by using citizen card data from which the record of transfer between metro and docked public bicycle can be derive between March to July 2017. Then the results of model estimation are discussed, the findings of which are valuable for the design of policies aimed at improving the integration of metro and public bicycle to enhance metro ridership. Besides, they are conducive to planning the bicycle availability and re-balancing operations at bicycle stations.