Bicycle Lane Condition and Distance: Case Study of Public Bicycle System in Xi’an, China

Abstract

Urban road infrastructure has significantly affected the popularity and use of public bike-sharing systems in many cities. Using the bike-sharing system of Xi’an, China, as a case study, this paper aims to discuss how the cycling lane condition and road network density affect the cycling distances, on the basis of the data obtained from 83 questionnaires. Five types of cycling lanes in single cycling routes and neighborhood zones of the route were geocoded and defined using a geographic information system (GIS) tool. The statistical results showed that cyclists preferred to ride on the lane isolated with a barrier and mixed with bus traffic when the lengths of various cycling lanes had the same proportion of the road network. The results of a Tobit regression analysis indicated that the cyclists were more affected by the cycling condition of the neighborhood zone around their cycling routes than by the condition of a single cycling route. In the lower-density neighborhoods (<4.33 km/km2), as the value of the network density increased, the degree of influence of the density on the cycling distance could increase. The findings could provide guidance and serve as a reference for the decision makers to develop a road infrastructure that provides a better cycling experience.