Can Internet Rental Bicycles change people's travel behaviour? A survey from China

“Internet Rental Bicycles” are one of the most popular travel tools that has been developed in China in the past two years. They not only offer a green, environmentally friendly travel option but also solve the problem of the “Last Mile” to a great extent. In this paper, a questionnaire survey was conducted on 321 participants. The results show that age and private car ownership are the two most important factors that hinder the use of Internet Rental Bicycles. The development of Internet Rental Bicycles replaced a certain proportion of public transit and pedestrian traffic. Meanwhile, the most common intended uses of Internet Rental Bicycles are commuting, shopping and entertainment. Moreover, Internet Rental Bicycles are used more frequently during weekends and holidays and help meet travellers’ short-distance travel demands. In addition, the results also show that the personal attributes of travellers have no significant impact on their intention to continue to use Internet Rental Bicycles. Instead, travellers’ attitudes towards Internet Rental Bicycles significantly influence their usage intention. These findings are helpful to Internet Rental Bicycle operators and traffic management departments that must better specify their policies and measures to respond to the changes in the way that people travel.