Bikeshare Use in Urban Communities: Individual and Neighborhood Factors

Objective: Bicycling is an affordable way to increase access to employment, school­ing, and services and an effective measure against obesity. Bikeshare programs can make bicycling accessible to diverse popula­tions, but little evidence exists on their adoption in low-resource neighborhoods. Our study examined factors associated with bikeshare use in a metropolitan area in the southern United States. Methods: We performed a retrospective cross-sectional analysis of a database of clients (N=815) who rented a bicycle from Zyp Bikeshare in Birmingham, Alabama be­tween October 2015 and November 2016. Individual-level variables included bike use frequency, average speed, total miles traveled, total minutes ridden, bike type (traditional vs electricity-assisted pedelec), membership type, sex, and age. Area-level data aggregated to Census tracts, proxies for neighborhoods, were obtained from the 2010 US Census after geocoding clients’ billing addresses. Using exploratory factor analysis, a neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage index (SDI) was constructed. Bikeshare station presence in a tract was included as a covariate. Multivariate linear regression models, adjusted for clustering on Census tracts, were estimated to determine predictors of bikeshare use. Results: In a multivariate regression model of individual and neighborhood character­istics adjusted for clustering, each decile increase in the SDI was associated with a 9% increase in bikeshare use (P<.001). Bikeshare use was also positively associated with speed (.1, P<.001), total miles (.008, P<.001), and pedelec use (1.02, P<.01). Conclusion: Higher neighborhood socio­economic disadvantage is associated with higher bikeshare use. Bikeshare is a viable transportation option in low-resource neighborhoods and may be an effective tool to improve the connectivity, livability, and health of urban communities. Ethn Dis. 2017;27(Suppl 1):303-312; doi:10.18865/ed.27.S1.303.