Financial determinants of mode substitution in residents’ travel behaviour: a case study of public bike-sharing in Lodz, Poland

Abstract

Bike-sharing networks have achieved considerable success in many cities worldwide, gaining a growing number of supporters for this mode of transportation. While the existing literature covers various aspects related to bike-sharing, the exploration of the relationship between these networks and the financial benefits for residents when transitioning to cycling has been somewhat limited. Therefore, the main objective of our article is to identify the factors influencing urban residents’ decisions to switch to cycling and to understand the significance of financial considerations in shaping changes in travel behaviour. We assessed the perceived affordability of bike-sharing services by measuring respondent satisfaction (via Computer Assisted Personal Interviews – CAPI) with the rental prices of city bicycles. To examine the relationships between variables, we employed statistical tests, including the Fisher test, the chi-square test of independence, and the Mann-Whitney test. Our research findings confirmed that replacing public transportation with bicycles has the most substantial impact, while substituting car trips has a relatively minor effect. Furthermore, our analysis revealed statistically significant associations between price satisfaction and the decision to abandon car travel in favour of cycling, as well as the motivation to save costs and substituting walking and public transport with bicycle travel.

Keywords

• bike-sharing
• travel behaviour
• financial and economical determinants
• modal substitution