Can bike-share change attitudes? Evidence from the Sacramento, California region

Abstract

Many existing studies of bike-share services focus on system dynamics and user characteristics, but less is known about how bike-share influences bicycling more broadly. In this study, we examine how a bike-share system influenced travel attitudes of residents through a repeated cross-sectional survey conducted before and after the opening of the system. The study focused on one of the largest dock-less electric-assisted bike-share systems in the US in 2018, the Jump system in three California cities: Sacramento, West Sacramento, and Davis. Results suggest that the bike-share system is likely to have been responsible, at least in part, for more favorable attitudes toward bicycling and less favorable attitudes toward driving. This research demonstrates that the benefits of bike-share can go beyond the general use of the system. Bike-share can also be seen as an intervention that has widespread psychological effects that may increase the likelihood of bicycling.