Trade-off between environmental benefits and time costs for public bicycles: An empirical analysis using streaming data in China
In recent years, bicycle sharing has become more popular in cities and towns around the world. Public bicycles are one of the important forms of bicycle sharing. The use of public bicycles instead of motor vehicles has brought about changes in environmental benefits for the society, and at the same time, it has also changed the travel time of residents. Because these changes are potential and cannot be measured directly, the authors put forward the calculation methods of environmental benefits and time costs of public bicycles according to the concept of opportunity cost. Taking Hohhot, the capital city of Inner Mongolia, as an example, according to the streaming data of 9.76×10⁶ valid orders of public bicycle trips in 2016, they found that the use of public bicycles could reduce consumption of standard coal by as much as 5,796.11 tons (accounting 0.16‱ of the total coal consumption in Inner Mongolia) and carbon emissions were reduced by 4,381.28 tons (accounting 0.30‱ of the total carbon emissions in Inner Mongolia). However, the promotion of public bicycles is not without disadvantages. The use of public bicycles has increased the average travel time of residents by 0.06 hours, which is neglected in previous studies. The contribution of public bicycles to saving 1kg standard coal corresponds to 0.10 hours of travel time waste. Reduction of 1 kg of carbon emissions, corresponding to the travel time waste of 0.14 h. The use of public bicycles varies among different income groups, which is caused by the value of travel time. Low-income groups use more frequently than high-income groups. Generally speaking, low-income groups bring more environmental benefits to society through the use of public bicycles, but bear more time costs. Therefore, the authors propose a carbon tax on high-carbon transportation modes to encourage green travel and balance the environmental benefits and time costs of public bicycles.
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Availability:
- Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/00489697
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Supplemental Notes:
- © 2020 Published by Elsevier B.V. Abstract reprinted with permission of Elsevier.
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Authors:
- Wang, Zhaohua
- Xue, Mengtian
- Zhao, Yuandong
- Zhang, Bin
- Publication Date: 2020-5-1
Language
- English
Media Info
- Media Type: Web
- Features: Figures; Maps; References;
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Serial:
- Science of the Total Environment
- Volume: 715
- Issue Number: 0
- Publisher: Elsevier
- ISSN: 0048-9697
- Serial URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00489697
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Air quality management; Benefit cost analysis; Bicycles; Data streaming; Environmental impacts; Environmental policy; Travel time; Vehicle sharing
- Geographic Terms: China
- Subject Areas: Economics; Environment; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Planning and Forecasting; Policy; Vehicles and Equipment;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 01733482
- Record Type: Publication
- Files: TRIS
- Created Date: Mar 19 2020 10:22AM