To dock or not to dock? The lowdown on dockless bike-share schemes

Description

Dr Alexandros Nikitas, Senior Lecturer in Transport at the University of Huddersfield in the UK,describes how bike-sharing can survive and potentially thrive in a difficult climate for this type of mobility interventions.

Dr Nikitas links the current popularity of bike-sharing to a growing interest in the ‘share economy’ and increasing environmental concern. He believes initiatives such as bike-share schemes are often a first step on the road towards communities embracing sustainable travel behaviours: “Rebranding something as conventional as urban cycling in a way that embraces the notion of the shared resource economy is a powerful tool for policy-makers looking to promote active transportation. The very presence of a bike-sharing scheme could signal that a city is interested to host green transport initiatives and sustainable urban growth.”