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"Electric bikes (e-bikes) provide low-cost, convenient, and relatively energy-efficient transportation to an estimated 40 million–50 million people in the People's Republic of China (PRC), quickly becoming one of the dominant travel modes in the country. As e-bike use grows, concerns are rising about lead pollution from their batteries and emissions from their use of grid electricity, primarily generated by coal power plants. This report analyzes the environmental performance of e-bikes relative to other competing modes, their market potential, and the viability of alternative battery technologies. It also frames the role of e-bikes in the PRC's transportation system and recommends policy for decision makers in the PRC's central and municipal governments."

"Electric bikes (e-bikes) provide low-cost, convenient, and relatively energy-efficient transportation to an estimated 40 million–50 million people in the People's Republic of China (PRC), quickly becoming one of the dominant travel modes in the country. As e-bike use grows, concerns are rising about lead pollution from their batteries and emissions from their use of grid electricity, primarily generated by coal power plants. This report analyzes the environmental performance of e-bikes relative to other competing modes, their market potential, and the viability of alternative battery technologies. It also frames the role of e-bikes in the PRC's transportation system and recommends policy for decision makers in the PRC's central and municipal governments."

In China, dockless bike-sharing programs (DBSPs) play a significant role in promoting the goals of sustainable urban travel and carbon emissions reduction. However, the sustainability of DBSPs is increasingly being challenged as various issues associated with different stakeholders emerge. While numerous studies have focused on the barriers to traditional bike-sharing programs, the sustainability performance of new-generation DBSPs is largely overlooked. It is accordingly imperative to understand the primary challenges that impede the sustainability of DBSPs and to consider what stimulative measures can be taken. In this study, we investigate the factors that are critical to DBSPs&rsquo ; sustainability from a network perspective. Stakeholder-associated factors and their interrelations were identified via literature analysis and interviews, and the social network analysis (SNA) method was employed to recognize the critical factors and links in DBSPs. As a result, 10 critical factors and 10 major interactions were identified and further classified into six challenges. Sharing transport schemes, legislative perfection, public private partnership (PPP), and product lifecycle management (PLM) were proposed to govern these challenges. This paper contributes to the existing body of knowledge of bike-sharing programs via a network approach that integrates the key influencing factors with those factors&rsquo ; associated stakeholders. Furthermore, these findings provide the government and operators with implications for mitigating the tough challenges and facilitating the sustainability of DBSPs.

A new mobility ethos is needed for cities looking to overcome the problems that have been accumulated for decades by a transport paradigm that prioritises automobiles over people. Bike-sharing, a measure promoting voluntary travel behaviour change, could be part of a refined toolbox that will help in forging this new ethos. Despite a rapid emergence during the last handful of years, as evidenced by 1956 operational local schemes and approximately 15,254,400 self-service public use bicycles across the world, bike-sharing has been attracting negative attention lately. Tens of schemes have closed down, deemed as financial or operational failures, stigmatising bike-sharing&rsquo ; s brand and putting the future of the concept itself in jeopardy. However, discounting bike-sharing as flawed may not be fair or accurate. This paper identifies a formula of success for bike-sharing operations based on a state-of-the-art case study analysis, which is supported by primary data evidence from two survey-based studies in Sweden and Greece. This paper suggests that residents in cities hosting or looking to host bike-sharing schemes are usually very supportive of them but not always likely to use them. More importantly, this paper delivers some key policy and business lessons that form a survival guide for effectively introducing and running public bicycle schemes. These lessons include, among others, the need for: tailoring the system design and expansion strategy according to the host city needs, city-operator and commercial partner synergies, more bike-friendly infrastructure and legislation, pro-active cultural engagement, anti-abuse measures, enhanced fleet management and realistic profit expectations.

Urban spaces distinctly modulate the mobility patterns of men and women, with new mobility modes manifesting gender differences. In this study, by visualizing bike-sharing mobility patterns in New York City, we reveal significant disparities in cycling usage between males and females. During weekdays, the findings highlight a pattern of male dominance in most areas, particularly in business districts. In some recreational and residential areas, routes with higher proportions of female cyclists are observed. Additionally, weekends experience a surge in the proportion of female cyclists, predominantly in leisure-oriented locations. These findings highlighted the need for urban planning to account for gender differences across space and time to meet diverse mobility needs.

Dockless bike-sharing programs (DBSPs) are typical representatives of the new era of the internet economy. These schemes alleviate urban traffic congestion, reduce carbon emissions, and change people&rsquo ; s preferred travel modes, but they also suffer from a series of problems related to unsustainability. The sustainability performance of a DBSP is closely related to its influencing factors, which can be used to understand the main challenges of the program and consider what useful measures should be taken to overcome these issues. Therefore, it is essential to investigate the related factors that are critical to the sustainability of DBSPs from a systems-level perspective. In this paper, we explored publicly available data sources (i.e., literature, institutional reports, and announcements) to determine the intrinsic influencing factors and understand their interactions and feedback relationships. A taxonomy of the key challenges with respect to the fundamental pillars of DBSP sustainability (i.e., environment, society, and economy) was provided. System dynamics methodology was employed to map the critical factors and links in order to analyze the key challenges in facilitating the sustainability of DBSPs. Based on this approach, we put forward proposals to mitigate the severe challenges for governments and DBSP operators. The findings provide a theoretical basis and guiding role to develop improvement strategies for DBSP sustainability.