Abstract
Being both affordable and sustainable, bike-sharing schemes have a promising potential of providing smart and sustainable mobility solutions for all. However, for bike-sharing to become part of a convenient, sustainable, and accessible mobility system, it must meet the needs of a wide range of users. Today, existing supply of bike-sharing schemes rarely take diversity into account: people who travel with kids, people who do not feel secure in biking or people who carry heavy luggage, do not have the opportunity to use the system. The lack of diversity in the contemporary bike-sharing supply presents a problem for visions of smart mobility for all. While a body of research points to differences in bicycling due to socio-economic factors and norms, there is little knowledge on how diverse mobility needs affect the attractiveness of using a bike-sharing scheme. This paper addresses non-users’ perceptions of public bike-sharing schemes in Denmark and Sweden. The empirical material includes 14 in-depth interviews and two focus groups with non-users. Research questions include what everyday mobility needs the informants have, and if they can be meet by the local bike-sharing scheme, as well as how the bike-sharing scheme meets the diversity in restrictions, needs, and preferences of transport. The paper finds that non-use of bike-sharing schemes in Scandinavia can be explained through three overall narratives: ‘I have my own bicycle’, ‘I travel with kids’, and ‘I don’t feel safe.’ It argues that obstacles of using bike-sharing schemes in part can be explained the ‘one fits all’ approach that dominates bike-sharing design today. By adding a perspective on diversity, the paper contributes to filling the research gap in new mobility solutions and diversity.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Rick Leblanc, Sustainable business 2019: https://www.thebalancesmb.com/how-do-bicycle-sharing-systems-work-4176148. Italics added by authors.
- 2.
See more https://bycyklen.dk/om-bycyklen/
- 3.
We draw this conclusion from an initial round of telephone interviews we did as part of this study, to understand how equity and bike-sharing is approached by professional actors, as well as NGO:s that support cycling in the Oresund region.
- 4.
- 5.
- 6.
These examples are collected from a workshop on bike-sharing business models that can support diversity, arranged by the authors within the frame of TInnGO, a horizon 2020 program focusing on gender and smart mobility. More info about the workshop: https://transportgenderobservatory.eu/2021/01/25/scandinavian-hub-workshop-on-gender-and-diversity-in-biking/
References
Albino, V., Berardi, U., Dangelico, R.M.: Smart cities: Definitions, dimensions, performance, and initiatives. J. Urban technol. 22(1), 3–21 (2015)
Aldred, R., Woodcock, J., Goodman, A.: Does more cycling mean more diversity in cycling? Transp. Rev. 36(1), 28–44 (2016)
Andrews, M., Sclater, S.D., Squire, C., Treacher, A., Denzin, N.K.: Lines of narrative: Psychosocial perspectives vol. 8, Psychology Press (2000)
Angeles, L.C.: Transporting difference at work. In: Cohen, M.G., Cohen, M.G. (eds.) Climate Change and Gender in Rich Countries: Work, Public Policy and Action, pp. 103–118. Routledge, Abingdon, New York, Routledge (2017)
Balkmar, D.: Cycling politics: imagining sustainable cycling futures in Sweden. Appl. Mobil. 5(3), 324–340 (2020)
Berg, J., Henriksson, M., Ihlström, J.: Comfort first! Vehicle-sharing systems in urban residential areas: the importance for everyday mobility and reduction of car use among pilot users. Sustainability 11(9), 2521 (2019)
Breengaard, M.H., Christensen, H.R., Oldrup, H.H., Poulsen, H., Malthesen, T.: TRANSGEN - gender mainstreaming European transport research and policies: building the knowledge base and mapping good practices. University of Copenhagen: Co-ordination for Gender Studies (2007)
Büscher, M., Freudendal-Pedersen, M., Kesselring, S., Kristensen, N.G.: Handbook of Research Methods and Applications for Mobilities. Edward Elgar Publishing (2020)
Caggiani, L., Camporeale, R., Hamidi, Z., Zhao, C.: Evaluating the efficiency of bike-sharing stations with data envelopment analysis. Sustainability 13(2), 881 (2021)
Colville-Andersen, M.: Watching Copenhagen Bike Share Die. Copenhagenize.com (2015). http://www.copenhagenize.com/2015/02/watching-copenhagen-bike-share-die.html
Crenshaw, K.: Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory, and Antiracist Politics, University of Chicago Legal Forum, pp. 139–67 (1989)
Fishman, E., Allan, V.: Bike share. Advances in Transport Policy and Planning 4, 121–152 (2019)
Freudendal-Pedersen, M.: Whose commons are mobilities spaces? The case of Copenhagen cyclists. ACME Int. J. Crit. Geograph. 14(2), 598 (2015). http://acmejournal.org/index.php/acme/article/view/1188
Gelinder, M.: Potential justice implications in system design of bicycle sharing systems. Radboud University Nijmegen (2020). https://theses.ubn.ru.nl/handle/123456789/10248?locale-attribute=en
Gubrium, J.F., Holstein, J.A.: Analyzing narrative reality. sage. (2009)
Hanson, S.: Gender and mobility: new approaches for informing sustainability. Gend. Place Cult. 17, 5–23 (2010)
Henriksson, M., Wallsten, A.: Succeeding without success: Demonstrating a residential bicycle sharing system in Sweden. Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives 8, 100271 (2020)
Hitchings, R.: People can talk about their practices. Area 44(1), 61–67 (2012)
Haustein, S., Koglin, T., Nielsen, T.A.S., Svensson, Å.: A comparison of cycling cultures in Stockholm and Copenhagen. Int. J. Sustain. Transp. 14(4), 280–293 (2020)
Kronsell, A., Dymén, C., Rosqvist, L.S., Hiselius, L.W.: Masculinities and femininities in sustainable transport policy: a focus on Swedish municipalities. NORMA 15(2), 128–144 (2020)
Kronsell, A., Rosqvist, L.S., Hiselius, L.W.: Achieving climate objectives in transport policy by including women and challenging gender norms: the Swedish case. Int. J. Sustain. Transp. 10(8), 703–711 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1080/15568318.2015.1129653
Law, R.: Beyond ‘women and transport’: towards new geographies of gender and daily mobility. Prog. Hum. Geogr. 23(4), 567–588 (1999)
Linbike: Linbike – Linköpings elcykelpool. Uppföljning Sept. 2019–Jan. 2020. PPT by P. Semberg. [LinBike – Linköping bike-sharing service. Follow-up Sept. 2019–Jan. 2020 (2020)
Linköping Municipality: Cykellänken. Så blir den bättre för fler. Linköping municipality and Pedalista. [The Bicycle link. How it will be better for more people] (2018)
de Madariaga, I.S., Zucchini, E.: Measuring mobilities of care, a challenge for transport agendas. In: Integrating Gender into Transport Planning, pp. 145–173. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham (2019)
Nikitas, A., Wallgren, P., Rexfelt, O.: The paradox of public acceptance of bike sharing in Gothenburg. Proc. Inst. Civ. Eng. Eng. Sustain. 169(3), 101–113 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1680/jensu.14.00070
Nixon, D.V., Schwanen, T.: Bike sharing beyond the norm. J. Transp. Geogr. 80, 102492 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2019.102492
Prati, G.: Gender equality and women’s participation in transport cycling. J. Transp. Geogr. 66, 369–375 (2018)
Riessman, C.K.: Narrative methods for the human sciences. Sage. (2008)
Scheiner, J.: Gendered key events in the life course: effects on changes in travel mode choice over time. J. Transp. Geogr. 37, 47–60 (2014)
Scholten, C.L., Joelsson, T. (eds.): Integrating Gender into Transport Planning: From one to Many Tracks. Springer, Cham (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05042-9
Singh, Y.J.: Is smart mobility also gender-smart? J. Gend. Stud. 29, 832–846 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1080/09589236.2019.1650728
Turner, J., Grieco, M.: Gender and time poverty: the neglected social policy implications of gendered time. Transp. Travel Time Soc. 9(1), 129–136 (2000)
Uteng, T.P., Espegren, H.M., Throndsen, T.S., Böcker, L.: The gendered dimension of multimodality: exploring the bike-sharing scheme of Oslo. In: Gendering Smart Mobilities, pp. 162–187. Routledge (2019)
Uteng, T.P., Christensen, H.R., Levin, L. (eds.): Gendering Smart Mobilities. Routledge (2020). https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429466601
Wang, M., Zhou, X.: Bike-sharing systems and congestion: Evidence from US cities. J. Transp. Geogr. 65, 147–154 (2017)
Funding
This research received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 824349.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Breengaard, M.H., Henriksson, M., Wallsten, A. (2021). Smart and Inclusive Bicycling? Non-users’ Experience of Bike-Sharing Schemes in Scandinavia. In: Krömker, H. (eds) HCI in Mobility, Transport, and Automotive Systems. HCII 2021. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 12791. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-78358-7_37
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-78358-7_37
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-78357-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-78358-7
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)