Differences of Cycling Experiences and Perceptions between E-Bike and Bicycle Users in the United States

Abstract

E-bikes are bicycles that provide pedal-assistance to aid people in cycling. Because of the potential of promoting sustainable transportation, more attention has been focused on the e-bike market. This paper investigates the differences of the cycling experience and perceptions between e-bike and conventional bicycle users, using samples drawn from independent bicycle dealer customers. A total of 806 respondents in the United States took the on-line survey, including 363 e-bike-owning respondents. The results show that e-bikes play a more important role in utilitarian travel, such as commuting and running errands, compared to a conventional bicycle. Conventional bicycle-owning respondents use their bicycles more for recreation and exercise. Also, e-bike owners tend to bike longer distances and take more trips per week. Both e-bike respondents and bicycle respondents stated that improved health was a key factor for cycling, while Millennials and Generation X respondents cycle to save time and improve the environment. Finally, an ordered logit model is proposed for evaluating factors that influence interest in future e-bike ownership. Travel purpose, e-bike familiarity, annual household income, and education level are statistically significant factors in the model. These findings begin to provide insight and a profile of potential new markets for e-bikes in the United States.

Development of Multivariate Ordered Probit Model to Understand Household Vehicle Ownership Behavior in Xiaoshan District of Hangzhou, China

“…The similarities between motorcycle and bicycle may cause a little promotive relation between them. Finally, it is interesting to see that e-bicycle and bicycle are also mutually promotive, as shown by the positive correlation (0.0273), although the correlation is very small, possibly due to the similarity between e-bicycle and bicycle on the aspect of flexibility and sustainability [50].…”

Optimal Fleet Deployment Strategy: Model the Effect of Shared E-Bikes on Bike-Sharing System

“…Fishman and Cherry [13] provided a comprehensive review on e-bike-related literature, whose focus is transport instead of recreational e-bike research. E-bikes were shown to reduce the fatigue level [14][15][16][17] and increase the cyclist's mode satisfaction level [18]. It was also found that e-bikes can increase the ridership or travel distance in comparison with traditional bikes [4,15,19,20].…”

“…Equations (13) and (14) ensure that the same fleet deployment plan is applied at the initial period of planning horizon for different demand realisations. Constraints (15) and (16) are balancing constraints for the number of bikes and e-bikes at the beginning of each period t. Constraint (17) ensures that the number of bikes at each station can never exceed the capacity of bike station; constraint (18) ensures that the number of e-bikes at each e-bike station cannot exceed the total number of charging piles. Equations (19) and (20) are fleet size constraints to ensure that the total fleet size in each demand scenario is the same, and the fleet size constraint can also serve as a budget constraint.…”

Multicriteria Approach to Sustainable Transport Evaluation under Incomplete Knowledge: Electric Bikes Case Study

“…Hence, the space of the investigated problem is equal to 8. Based on [69][70][71][72][73][74][75][76][77][78][79][80], the following criteria are specified: [74,79].…”