Investigating factors affecting bicycle sharing system acceptability in a developing country: The case of Mashhad, Iran

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate the factors affecting the acceptability of a bicycle sharing system (BSS) in Mashhad, which is the first BSS to be introduced in Iran. Given the low usage rated of the BSS, we distributed a survey in all stations. 134 users answered the questionnaire. We clustered the potentially relevant factors in five dimensions: Socio-cultural, Economic, Infrastructure, System function and Environmental. We eliminated the Environmental dimension because of invalid loading factors. Next, we evaluated the importance and significance of these factors and the four remaining dimensions for the acceptance of BSS in Mashhad. Furthermore, MANOVA was used to evaluate the relationship between the demographic characteristics and dimensions. The findings indicate that the system is mainly used by young people, students, people with a low-income and those without a vehicle. The results of the evaluations show that all four dimensions are effective, the impact of the Economic dimension being less important than the three other dimensions. The most important factors are the authorities' use of the system and driving behavior (Socio-cultural dimension), easy use and registration, and proper and timely maintenance (System function) and the availability of bike lanes and suitable bike equipment (Infrastructure). This study is the first attempt to investigate different factors and dimensions important for BSS acceptability in Iran. It can be said that the factors affecting the acceptability of BSS is different in different contexts. Nevertheless, we expect our results to be useful for the design and implementation of BSSs in other cities in Iran, and likely also in other developing countries. applies to sustainable urban mobility (Berloco and Colonna, 2012;Ahmad and de Oliveira, 2016). In addition to public transportation urban cycling can play an important role in sustainable mobility, partly

Factors influencing the acceptance and use of a bicycle sharing system: Applying an extended Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT)

“…Most of the users in our study have a low to medium income, in contrast to other previous studies on BSSs which showed higher rates of adoption among higher income residents (Transport for London, 2010; Ogilvie and Goodman, 2012;Fishman et al, 2014;Fishman et al, 2015;Ricci, 2015;Raux et al, 2017;Hosford et al, 2018). The differences between BSSs in developing and developed countries in terms of users' income was discussed recently by Jahanshahi et al (2019b), where it seems using a BSS is more reasonable in developing countries and contexts which have higher costs associated with of transportation and cars. In addition, another potential barrier which could be related to the sociocultural context, may be social status, where people with higher incomes avoid using BSSs because of a perceived potential decline in social status they use an inexpensive mode of transport.…”

“…The bicycles in the BSS are of poor quality and do not have suitable and high quality equipment. Previous studies on BSS in Mashhad found that quality and quantity of bicycle lane strongly influence BSS usage in this city (Jahanshahi et al, 2018(Jahanshahi et al, , 2019b. Therefore, Perceived Safety was added as a sixth (new) construct for the UTAUT model.…”

“…As recently discussed by Jahanshahi et al (2018) and Jahanshahi et al (2019b), this new bicycle sharing technology has not been widely accepted nor used by residents of Mashhad despite its many advantages including positive impact on individual health, and the reduction of energy use and air pollution. Since its introduction to the city's transportation system, some unofficial reports indicate nearly 19,000 individuals registered in the system.…”

“…The low usage rates of the MBSS could stem from several factors. While socio-cultural, environmental, geographical, governmental policy, economic, system function and infrastructure each play a role (Fishman et al, 2014;Karki & Tao, 2016;Mateo-Babiano et al, 2016;Jahanshahi et al, 2018;Mattson and Godavarthy, 2017;Jahanshahi et al, 2019a;Jahanshahi et al, 2019b), intention to use is an especially significant factor that has been proposed to influence BSS use (Chen, 2016). To establish users' acceptance and uptake of the system, identifying how and why a user is motivated to use a technology that reshapes his /her mobility patterns is a challenge (Najm et al, 2006).…”

Are Shared Vehicles Shared by All? A Review of Equity and Vehicle Sharing

“…The research we found consistently shows that bikeshare and e-scooter users are younger than the population generally, with seventeen studies providing such data for bikeshare (Soltani et al 2019; Hess and Schubert 2019; Murphy and Usher 2015; Woodcock et al 2014; Vogel et al 2014; Jahanshahi, van Wee, and Kharazmi 2019; Fishman et al 2014; Wielinski, Trépanier, and Morency 2017a; Shaheen et al 2012a; Guo et al 2017; Shaheen, Christensen, and de Lima 2015; Xin et al 2018; Hosford et al 2018; Buck et al 2013; LDA Consulting 2012; Kaviti, Venigalla, and Lucas 2019b; Gavin et al 2016) and six for e-scooters (San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency 2019; Orr, MacArthur, and Dill 2019; Mobility Lab 2019; City of Santa Monica 2019; Baltimore City 2019; City of Minneapolis 2019). These patterns are consistent with age differences in bicycling generally in low-cycling countries (Pucher and Buehler 2012).…”