Conclusion

The City of Vancouver, in its hope to boost sustainable trips, has proposed a bike-sharing system expected to launch in 2014.  In my analysis, I used a location-allocation model based on census population as demand to locate 125 potential sites for installing stations within the downtown area.  I compared these results to a bikeability map of the same area generated using a multi-criteria evaluation based on bike infrastructure and topography.

The results show that in many areas, the two maps complement each other; that is to say, stations were located on bikeable terrain.  However, one major limitation was the use of only a nighttime population measure to determine demand, leaving empty gaps in highly bikeable and destination-rich areas such as the downtown business district.  Tourists were not considered in this study to reflect the City’s desire not to compete against local bike rental businesses, and instead to target commuters and residents.

More comprehensive research would give weight to daytime population, taking into account the demand for bike-share coming from the influx of employees who work in the downtown area.  Furthermore, as bike-share rolls out in its first phases, vital data on station usage and trip information will help determine actual areas of demand and less demand.  This data will further help locate potential sites for new bike-share docking stations.

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