Impact of bike share on transit ridership in a smaller city with a university-oriented bike share program

The concept of bike sharing has existed around the world for several decades. However, the prevalence and popularity of bike share programs has increased rapidly, both in the United States and internationally, in the last decade. Initially implemented in larger cities, the programs’ effectiveness and applicability is prompting smaller communities to launch their own programs. While bike share is expanding to many smaller cities, there is a need to better understand the impact of bike share programs on other travel modes such as automobile, public transportation, bicycling, and walking in smaller communities. To that end, this study analyzes the impact of bike share on mode share and transit usage in a smaller, university city of Fargo, North Dakota. This objective is achieved by surveying North Dakota State University (NDSU) students who are the primary users of the bike share program; surveys were conducted before and after the launch of the bike share program. A regression model was also developed, using daily transit ridership data, to estimate the impact of bike share use on bus ridership. Results showed that the bike share program did have some negative effect on bus ridership.