The third and final phase of our bike share equity research project has been published, with new findings from a survey of bike share users.

Riders targeted for equity-focused outreach efforts—lower-income individuals and people of color—were most likely to cite cost savings or discounted membership as reasons why they joined, while higher-income and white users were more likely to cite the convenience of using bike share. Lower-income riders were also more likely to have heard about bike share from targeted outreach, rather than from friends or family. This indicates that the equity outreach and discount programs are likely reaching people who would not otherwise join bike share.

This research is a collaborative effort between NITC, Portland State University's Office of Research and Strategic Partnerships, and the Better Bike Share Partnership (BBSP). BBSP is a collaboration funded by The JPB Foundation to build equitable and replicable bike share systems. The partners include The City of Philadelphia, Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) and the PeopleForBikes Foundation.

Read previous TREC coverage about the three-part project.

• Breaking Barriers to Bike Share: Insights on Equity from a Survey of Bike Share System Owners and Operators (PDF): In May 2017, we published insights from the first phase of the project: surveys of bike-share system operators and of residents living near bike share systems.
• Breaking Barriers to Bike Share: Insights from Residents of Traditionally Underserved Neighborhoods (PDF): In June 2017, the second phase provided insights from residents who were living within the service area of these bike share systems but who were not using bike share. Our 20-page summary report (PDF) highlights significant findings from this survey.
• Breaking Barriers to Bike Share: Insights from Bike Share Users (PDF): The third phase was published in late December 2017. In this survey of bike share users, most of those receiving discounts reported transportation cost savings that exceeded the discount amount, an encouraging sign for the value of the program and for retaining those members even if discounts end.

Want to hear more from the folks behind the research? We hosted a webinar in 2017 on “Breaking Barriers to Bike Share: Insights on Equity”, and you can watch the recording here.

Although this project has come to a close, research on equitable access to bike share doesn’t end there. The BBSP has awarded their third round of funding on exploring this issue, and Portland State University has received a nearly $75,000 grant for a new research initiative to document the programs and strategies developed to address equity in bike share across the U.S.

This research was funded by the Better Bike Share Partnership (BBSP), a collaboration made possible by The JPB Foundation; and the National Institute for Transportation and Commiunities (NITC), a program of the Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University.

RECENT NEWS

• Portland State wins $75,000 grant to study bike share equity programs (Bike Portland, March 1, 2018)
• Can There Be Equity In The Bike Lane? (Huffington Post, Wednesday, February 14, 2018)
• Divvy's Top Rider Talks About Getting African-Americans Onto Divvy Bikes (Planetizen, Tuesday, January 16, 2018)

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