Impact of Bike Sharing on Traffic Congestion in China's Major Cities

To systematically investigate the governance effect of bike sharing on urban traffic congestion, this paper takes the staggered entry of ofo and Mobike into China's major cities as a quasi-natural experiment. Based on the 2016 to 2018 quarterly congestion delay indicator panel data of 45 major cities in China provided by Amap, this paper uses a difference-difference model to identify the impact of the bike sharing services on traffic congestion. The results show that: bike sharing service has a significant mitigation effect on urban traffic congestion, the bike sharing service reduces the congestion delay indicator by 2.9% on average, saving a total of about 309 million hours of commuting time and 15.1 billion yuan of economic losses annually, and reducing the total annual dioxide emission of urban vehicles in peak hours by about 3.55 million tons. The traffic congestion mitigation effect of bike sharing services is more effective in cities with heavier traffic volumes and larger populations, and is not restricted by air pollution. This study reveals the important role and potential value of bike sharing service in alleviating urban traffic congestion, and provides an innovative method and important policy enlightenment for urban traffic congestion management. © 2023 Science Press. All rights reserved.