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Scientific Article details

Title Profit versus Sustainability in Bikeshare
ID_Doc 78775
Authors Litan, H; Rong, K; Wu, YR; Xie, DX; Zhang, HZ; Zhao, D
Title Profit versus Sustainability in Bikeshare
Year 2023
Published
DOI 10.1016/j.scs.2023.104512
Abstract Bicycling is a green transportation mode that is essential for the sustainability of population-dense cities. Bikeshare is an emerging business-to-consumer (B2C) model that sustains bicycling and complements other public transits. By 2021, the number of shared bikes in China had grown to 437 million and its revenue to 1.31 billion US dollars. Previous research has focused on businesses' profit-maximizing decisions but has not considered the societal sustainability impacts of these decisions that could produce an excessive number of bikes and often conflict with the environment. In other words, sustainable cities need a sustainable growth of bike sharing. Our research fills this gap by building a novel game-theoretic model in which a bikeshare firm will make decisions regarding the trade-off between the accessibility (quantity) and sustainability (quality) of its bikes to maximize its rate of return. Our analysis deduces that the firm with more financial capital attains higher platform performance by prioritizing accessibility over sustainability. We offer government policies, such as number limitation, oversupply taxation, bike infrastructure investment, and technology advancement subsidy, to correct firms' excessive drive for profit over sustainability. These policies help address the Sustainable Development Goal 11 to achieve sustainable cities and communities.
Author Keywords Bikeshare economy; game model; platform strategies; accessibility; sustainable development
Index Keywords Index Keywords
Document Type Other
Open Access Open Access
Source Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED)
EID WOS:000960167600001
WoS Category Construction & Building Technology; Green & Sustainable Science & Technology; Energy & Fuels
Research Area Construction & Building Technology; Science & Technology - Other Topics; Energy & Fuels
PDF http://manuscript.elsevier.com/S2210670723001233/pdf/S2210670723001233.pdf
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