Spatial Analysis of the Relationship between Urban Built Environment and Public Bicycle Ridership

The knowledge of the relationship between an urban built environment and public bicycle ridership is of great value in enhancing urban traffic efficiency and facilitating the management of public bicycle systems. Based on 3-month trip data of Citi Bike, the public bicycle system in New York City, a case study is conducted. The data are first mined to extract the overall spatial pattern of public bicycle trips, including bicycle ridership distribution and imbalanced trip demand. Then, a mixed geographically weighted regression model is established to allow for the heterogeneity of the influence an urban built environment has on public bicycle ridership. It is found that the built environment has a varied impact on the trips of public bicycles across the entire deployment area, and the results exhibit significant spatial correlation between them.