Analysing Destination Choice Preferences in Bicycle Sharing Systems: An Investigation of Chicago’s Divvy System

1 In recent years, there has been increasing attention on bicycle-sharing systems (BSS) as a viable 2 and sustainable mode of transportation for short trips. However, due to relatively recent adoption 3 of BSS there is very little research exploring how people consider these systems within the 4 existing transportation alternatives. Given the recent growth of BSS across the world, there is 5 substantial interest in identifying contributing factors that encourage individuals to use these 6 systems. The current study contributes to the growing literature by examining BSS behavior at a 7 trip level to analyze bicyclists’ destination preferences. Specifically, we study the decision 8 process involved in identifying destination locations after picking up a bicycle at a BSS station 9 using a random utility maximization approach in the form of a multinomial logit model (MNL). 10 The quantitative frameworks developed have been estimated using data from Chicago’s Divvy 11 system for 2013. In our modeling effort, we distinguish between BSS users with annual 12 membership and short-term customers with daily passes. The developed model will allow 13 bicycle-sharing system operators to better plan their services by examining the impact of travel 14 distance, land use, built environment and access to public transportation infrastructure on users’ 15 destination preferences. Using the estimated model we generate utility profiles as a function of 16 distance and various other attributes allowing us to visually represent the trade-offs that 17 individuals make in their decision process. To further illustrate the applicability of the proposed 18 framework for planning purposes, destination station choice probability prediction is undertaken. 19