Exploring commonalities and disparities of seattle residents' perceptions on dockless bike-sharing across gender

Abstract

In recent years, dockless bike-sharing programs have been introduced to either substitute or complement docked bike-sharing programs. Riders of these devices always have perceived differences of one system over the other, which could vary across gender. This study applied a text network approach to explore the residents' perceptions of the dockless bike-sharing program across gender. The study used over 700 responses collected between February and March 2018 in Seattle, Washington. The results revealed that ease of use, convenience, safety, pricing, and quality areas make a tremendous difference in the perception of dockless over docked bike-sharing systems. The perception of ease of use and convenience does not vary significantly across genders. On the other hand, male respondents were more aligned on the better pricing scheme and the bikes' quality than female respondents. Conversely, female respondents did care more about safety in terms of helmet use. Moreover, female respondents were more explicit in explaining the negative characteristics of the dockless bike-sharing system over docked ones. Study findings can help policymakers and operators of dockless bikes to provide equity in service for both genders.