Analyzing users' attitudes and behavior of free-floating bike sharing: an investigating of Nanjing

Free-floating bike sharing (FFBS) is an innovative mode of bicycle operation that has grown rapidly in China. This paper studies the attitude and travel behavior of free-floating bike sharing in Nanjing. Questionnaires were sent by field survey. Investigators go on streets, subway stations, shopping malls, campus to distribute questionnaires. A total of 700 questionnaires were issued, and data from 453 users were analyzed. The data of the questionnaire were analyzed to find out the attraction of free-floating bike sharing for the citizens of Nanjing, including the travel time and distance characteristics of free-floating bike used by the people of Nanjing. The clustering analysis of the data shows the identity characteristics of four types of people and the travel characteristics of using free-floating bike. The results show that: (1) The major cyclists of FFBS in Nanjing are college students and enterprise's staff, aged between 18 and 40. (2) Among the respondents, 71.52% of FFBS users recognized it as the mainstream mode of short-distance travel, and 43.05% of users are willing to use FFBS companies' long-term service such as mobike and ofo. (3) FFBS has an impact on utilization rate of public transportation and private car trip frequency, particularly on short distance public transport trips. The conclusions of this paper can be referenced by urban management departments to formulate policies and free-floating bike sharing enterprises to provide better service. (C) 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.