Optimization of Dock Distribution in a Bike-Sharing System Considering Travelers’ Multi-Station Choices

抄録

Bike-Sharing Systems (BSSs) have become more and more prevalent around the world. The major problem of BSS operation is related to the spatiotemporally-varying usage pattern, which leads to the difficulty of resource allocation. In 2020, a dock-based BBS with lower construction cost was operating in Taiwan, which allow more flexible dock re- distribution/installation based on changes in usage. Thereby, denser stations hotspots/areas can be deployed for more convenient service. Particularly for the situation of no bike to rent at a station, users may be able to walk to a nearby station to access an available bike. This study incorporates such behavioral consideration into the problem of dock adjustment/re-allocation and develop a bi-level optimization model to determine the number of docks at each station for better response to demand variation and enhanced operational efficiency. A case study over a sample network is provided to verify the capability of the proposed model.