Bike Lending in North America: Understanding Business Models, User Acceptance, Social Equity, and Public Safety

Bicycle lending is a growing phenomenon within cities and towns across the country. Bike lending libraries allow people to check out bicycles, much like checking out a library book, for a set period of time and return it after the term is up or they have finished with it. Bike lending is different from bike rental or bike sharing in that most lending arrangements do not involve an exchange of money. Bike lending libraries exist to serve several different use cases and purposes. One of the main purposes of bike lending libraries is to allow people to use certain types of bicycles that they do not need all the time. To better understand the role and potential that bike lending libraries may have on the growth of bicycling as well as on the safety and social equity of access to riders, the research team first need an understanding of the scope and scale of bike lending initiatives across North America. This study will explore the topic by (1) conducting a literature review, (2) building an online census of bike lending operations in North America, (3) conducting expert interviews with operators, (4) conducting a survey of operators, and (5) conducting a focus group of users/lendees. The results will be synthesized in a final report.

• Record URL:
  https://www.pedbikesafety.org/projects/23ucb04

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Completed
• Funding: $120000
• Contract Numbers:

  69A3552348336

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology

  University Transportation Centers Program
  Department of Transportation
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Managing Organizations:

  Center for Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety

  University of New Mexico
  Albuquerque, NM  United States  87131
• Project Managers:

  Ferenchak, Nicholas

• Performing Organizations:

  University of California, Berkeley

  444 Davis Hall
  Berkeley, CA  United States  94720
• Principal Investigators:

  Shaheen, Susan

• Start Date: 20230601
• Expected Completion Date: 20240531
• Actual Completion Date: 0
• USDOT Program: University Transportation Centers Program

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Attitudes; Business models; Electric bicycles; Equity; Libraries; Micromobility; Pricing; Safety; Shared mobility
• Subject Areas: Operations and Traffic Management; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Safety and Human Factors; Society; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01900327
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Center for Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety
• Contract Numbers: 69A3552348336
• Files: UTC, RIP
• Created Date: Nov 21 2023 4:44PM