Dockless bike-sharing systems: what are the implications?

The emergence of dockless bike-sharing services has revolutionised
bike-sharing markets in recent years, and the dramatic growth of
shared bike fleets in China, as well as their rapid expansion
throughout the world, exceeds prior expectations. An
understanding of the impacts of these new dockless bike-sharing
systems is of vital importance for system operations,
transportation and urban planning research. This paper provides a
first overview of the emerging literature on implications of
dockless bike-sharing systems for users’ travel behaviour, user
experience, and relevant social impacts of dockless bike-sharing
systems. Our review suggests that the dockless design of bikesharing systems significantly improves users’ experiences at the
end of their bike trips. Individuals can instantly switch to a
dockless shared bike without the responsibility of returning it
back to a designated dock. Additionally, the high flexibility and
efficiency of dockless bike-sharing often makes the bike-sharing
systems’ integration with public transit even tighter than that of
traditional public bikes, providing an efficient option for first/lastmile trips. The GPS tracking device embedded in each dockless
shared bike enables the unprecedented collection of large-scale
riding trajectory data, which allow scholars to analyse people’s
travel behaviour in new ways. Although many studies have
investigated travel satisfaction amongst cyclists, there is a lack of
knowledge of the satisfaction with bikeshare trips, including both
station-based and dockless bikeshare systems. The availability and
usage rates of dockless bike-sharing systems implies that they
may seriously impact on individuals’ subjective well-being by
influencing their satisfaction with their travel experiences, health
and social participation, which requires further exploration. The
impact of dockless bike-sharing on users’ access to services and
social activities and the related decreases in social exclusion are
also relevant issues about which knowledge is lacking. With the
increases in popularity of dockless shared bikes in some cities,
issues related to the equity and access and the implications for
social exclusion and inequality are also raised.