Bike Sharing as a Solution for Mobility Issues in São Paulo: Benchmarking …
681
vehicles. A bidder must try on average for 20 months and spend about US$ 12,000
for a license plate. Even with this restriction policy, the number of cars in Shanghai
grew immensely, reaching 2.72 million vehicles or 118 per 1,000 persons, including
1.41 million privately owned vehicles, ranking 5th among Chinese cities. Electric car
buyers are allowed to bypass this controlled auction system, thus saving reasonable
time and money. Even with the growing number of electric cars, concerns with traffic
jams, however, still exist, since the number of license plates for conventional cars
was not reduced (Wang et al. 2017).
Before its great economic growth and high levels of urbanization, China was
considered to be the “kingdom of bicycle”, which was the mean of transportation
for most people. The adoption of motor vehicles in the last decades contributed to
the deterioration in air quality, so the government has been improving bike-friendly
infrastructure, such as lanes and traffic signals created solely for cyclists (UN News
2019). In recent years, there has been a revival of the bicycle usage across China,
with an increasing number of people choosing cycling instead of driving (Jie and Wei
e Jiang 2020). The current journey modal split in the city of Shanghai is composed
of 25% trips on foot, 19% by car, 32% by public transport and 16% by bike.
As of July 2017, Shanghai had 1.5 million dockless bikes, making it the largest
bike-sharing market in the world. Zhang e Mi estimated that in 2016, bike sharing in
the city saved more than 8 thousand tons of oil, avoiding the emission of 25,000 tons
of CO 2 and 64 tons of NOx, considering only one bike-sharing company, Mobike.
The authors used big data techniques to estimate the total distances of all bicycle
rides and fuel usage data taking into account their entire value chain, from production
to distribution. Estimated environmental benefits were greatest in more developed
neighborhoods of the city, where population density is higher (Zhang e Mi 2018).
However, the unplanned distribution of sharing bicycles aggravates the consumption of environmental resources (Jie and Wei e Jiang 2020). The excess of bikes in
the streets brought unexpected problems, such as illegal parking and a large number
of bicycles blocking sidewalks. The city’s authority had to forbid BSS companies
to allocate more bikes and started removing bikes from areas such as transportation
hubs, metro and bus stations and hospitals (Shanghai City News 2017). Many of
those bikes ended up in places now known as “bike graveyards”. In addition, the
bankruptcy of an BSS company (Bluegogo) led to the disposal of thousands of bikes,
causing a huge waste of resources and waste management setbacks to the city (Haas
2017). Rather than becoming garbage, those excess bicycles could actually be seen
as an opportunity for exploiting new markets, so more cities could benefit from bike
sharing. Reasonable allocation of the bicycles can promote the utility efficiency of
natural resources and strengthen the sustainability of economic development (Jie and
Wei e Jiang 2020).
In June 2018, Mobike worked with the city government and traffic police to
monitor and regulate bike parking with geofencing. A pilot project banning dockless
bikes from parking in downtown areas resulted in a 30% decrease in illegal parking
within two months, making street space more functional for all users (Jiang e Jamba
2019).
681
vehicles. A bidder must try on average for 20 months and spend about US$ 12,000
for a license plate. Even with this restriction policy, the number of cars in Shanghai
grew immensely, reaching 2.72 million vehicles or 118 per 1,000 persons, including
1.41 million privately owned vehicles, ranking 5th among Chinese cities. Electric car
buyers are allowed to bypass this controlled auction system, thus saving reasonable
time and money. Even with the growing number of electric cars, concerns with traffic
jams, however, still exist, since the number of license plates for conventional cars
was not reduced (Wang et al. 2017).
Before its great economic growth and high levels of urbanization, China was
considered to be the “kingdom of bicycle”, which was the mean of transportation
for most people. The adoption of motor vehicles in the last decades contributed to
the deterioration in air quality, so the government has been improving bike-friendly
infrastructure, such as lanes and traffic signals created solely for cyclists (UN News
2019). In recent years, there has been a revival of the bicycle usage across China,
with an increasing number of people choosing cycling instead of driving (Jie and Wei
e Jiang 2020). The current journey modal split in the city of Shanghai is composed
of 25% trips on foot, 19% by car, 32% by public transport and 16% by bike.
As of July 2017, Shanghai had 1.5 million dockless bikes, making it the largest
bike-sharing market in the world. Zhang e Mi estimated that in 2016, bike sharing in
the city saved more than 8 thousand tons of oil, avoiding the emission of 25,000 tons
of CO 2 and 64 tons of NOx, considering only one bike-sharing company, Mobike.
The authors used big data techniques to estimate the total distances of all bicycle
rides and fuel usage data taking into account their entire value chain, from production
to distribution. Estimated environmental benefits were greatest in more developed
neighborhoods of the city, where population density is higher (Zhang e Mi 2018).
However, the unplanned distribution of sharing bicycles aggravates the consumption of environmental resources (Jie and Wei e Jiang 2020). The excess of bikes in
the streets brought unexpected problems, such as illegal parking and a large number
of bicycles blocking sidewalks. The city’s authority had to forbid BSS companies
to allocate more bikes and started removing bikes from areas such as transportation
hubs, metro and bus stations and hospitals (Shanghai City News 2017). Many of
those bikes ended up in places now known as “bike graveyards”. In addition, the
bankruptcy of an BSS company (Bluegogo) led to the disposal of thousands of bikes,
causing a huge waste of resources and waste management setbacks to the city (Haas
2017). Rather than becoming garbage, those excess bicycles could actually be seen
as an opportunity for exploiting new markets, so more cities could benefit from bike
sharing. Reasonable allocation of the bicycles can promote the utility efficiency of
natural resources and strengthen the sustainability of economic development (Jie and
Wei e Jiang 2020).
In June 2018, Mobike worked with the city government and traffic police to
monitor and regulate bike parking with geofencing. A pilot project banning dockless
bikes from parking in downtown areas resulted in a 30% decrease in illegal parking
within two months, making street space more functional for all users (Jiang e Jamba
2019).