The COVID-19 impacts on bikeshare systems in small rural communities: Case study of bikeshare riders in Montgomery County, VA

Abstract

The shared and micro-mobility industry (ride sharing and hailing, carpooling, bike and e-scooter shares) saw direct and almost immediate impacts from COVID-19 restrictions, orders and recommendations from local governments and authorities. However, the severity of that impact differed greatly depending on variables such as different government guidelines, operating policies, system resiliency, geography and user profiles. This study investigated the impacts of the pandemic regarding bike-share travel behavior in Montgomery County, VA. We used bike-usage dataset covering two small towns in Montgomery county, namely: Blacksburg and Christiansburg, including Virginia Tech campus. The dataset used covers the period of Jan 2019—Dec 2021 with more than 14,555 trips and 5,154 active users. Findings indicated that a bikeshare user’s average trip distance and duration increased in 2020 (compared to 2019) from 2+ miles to 4+ and from half an hour to about an hour. While there was a slight drop in 2021, bikeshare users continued to travel farther distances and spend more time on the bikes than pre-COVID trips. When those averages were unpacked to compare weekday trips to weekend trips, a few interesting trip patterns were observed. Unsurprisingly, more trips still took place on the weekends (increasing from 2x as many trips to 4x as many trips than the weekday). These findings could help to better understand traveler’s choices and behavior when encountering future pandemics.