A User-Based Bike Return Algorithm for Docked Bike Sharing Systems

Recently, the development of Internet connection, intelligence, and sharing in the bicycle industry has assisted bike sharing systems (BSS’s) in establishing a connection between public transport hubs. In this paper, we propose a novel user-based bike return (UBR) algorithm for docked BSS’s which leverages a dynamic price adjustment mechanism so that the system is able to rebalance the number of lent and returned bikes by itself at different docks nearby. The proposed scheme motivates users to return their bikes to other underflow docks close-by their target destinations through a cheaper plan to compensate the shortage in them. Consequentially, the bike sharing system is able to achieve dynamic self-balance and the operational cost of the entire system for operators is reduced while the satisfaction of users is significantly increased. The simulations are conducted using real traces, called Citi Bike, and the results demonstrate that the proposed UBR achieves its design goals.