Determinants of Bicycle Transfer Demand at Metro Stations

Abstract

Metro transit networks are constantly expanding to meet the growing travel demand that accompanies rapid urban growth. One main disadvantage of metro transport is its heavy reliance on access and egress transport and, hence, on the corresponding transfer facilities. Improvements to these transfer facilities therefore have the potential to increase use of the metro system while possibly alleviating the traffic load on the urban road network. Because bicycle transfer at metro stations—that is, using a bicycle as mode of access to or egress from the metro system—is underused, the determinants of the demand for bicycle transfer are investigated. Results and findings are valuable for designing policies aimed at improving metro ridership and for designing bicycle parking and transfer facilities at metro stations. To this end, several metro stations in Nanjing, China, were analyzed, and two stereotypical metro stations were selected for how well they represented the system. A large-scale survey was conducted on metro travelers' opinions on and use of bicycle transfer facilities, and data were collected on the current attributes of service groups, bicycle parking occupancy, and transfer mode alternatives. Furthermore, metro travelers' (latent) transfer preferences for bicycle rental facilities were investigated. Two transfer choice models were estimated to identify and quantify the determinants for bicycle transfer demand: one focuses on current walk–metro trips, and the other focuses on current bus–metro trips. The explanatory determinants are discussed, and relative weights are computed with multiple linear regression analysis.