Planting Lime at the Station: Building a Theoretical Docking Station Network to Analyze the Spatiotemporal Characteristics of Dockless Bikeshare in Seattle

Abstract

Bikeshare systems are a well-established component of urban transportation systems, however until recently they have almost exclusively relied on permanently placed docking stations. In recent years, privately operated dockless, or “free floating”, bikeshare systems have proliferated throughout urban areas. Seattle presents a rare example of a large city that does not have a docked bikeshare system, and exclusively features vendor operated dockless bikeshare. Docked and dockless bikeshare have been frequent research subjects, but how dockless bikeshare behaves in a city where it is the only bikeshare system available remains largely unconsidered. To study that question, I use the spatial distribution of Capital Bikeshare stations in Washington D.C. to develop a theoretical network of docking stations in Seattle. Using Lime, Seattle’s largest dockless bikeshare vendor, I calculate net flows of bikes within Seattle’s “station” network and perform the same calculations on Capital Bikeshare’s real flows of bikes between stations. In doing so, I allow for a direct comparison between Capital Bikeshare and Lime on the (dis)similarities of the spatiotemporal characteristics of their bikeshare flows. I find that the two systems exhibit different dynamics, with Capital Bikeshare producing strong commuting flows in and out of the Central Business District, as well as statistically significant relationships to a variety of built environment and demographic variables. Lime’s Seattle fleet, however, does not demonstrate the same spatiotemporal patterns, and does not share the same relationships to the measured variables.