The Impact of Bikesharing Infrastructure on Crashes and Policy Implications for San Francisco

As a part of nationwide efforts to reduce congestion levels, vehicle-miles-traveled, and other negative aspects of the current transportation system, major cities in the United States are looking towards bikesharing programs. However, based on the experience of Vélib in Paris and an expected increase in ridership on capacity-limited infrastructure, concerns are raised as to whether these programs compromise bicyclists’ safety. This paper investigates the need for infrastructure changes when implementing a bikesharing program by examining two existing systems: Capital Bikeshare of Washington, D.C. and Nice Ride of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Based on this cross-sectional analysis, policy recommendations are made for San Francisco which implemented its own bikesharing program, Bay Area Bike Share in late August 2013. The data examined includes bicycle counts and crash data from Minneapolis. Two crash hotspots in Minneapolis are then studied further to determine the effect of infrastructure changes that divert bicyclists to traffic calmed routes. Through these analyses, it is shown that bikesharing programs often increase crashes, partially as a result of additional bicycle traffic; however, infrastructure developments and strategic placement of bikeshare stations can alleviate this issue. Poor bikeshare station placement and infrastructure changes, such as adding bike lanes to a traffic-heavy street, can contribute to an increase in crash rates.

  • Supplemental Notes:
    • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ANF20 Bicycle Transportation. Alternate title: Impact of Bikesharing Infrastructure on Crashes and Policy Implications for San Francisco
  • Corporate Authors:

    Transportation Research Board

    500 Fifth Street, NW
    Washington, DC  United States  20001
  • Authors:
    • Ballús-Armet, Ingrid
    • Rivadeneyra, Aldo Tudela
    • Konala, Saranya
    • Shafer, Rebecca
  • Conference:
  • Date: 2014

Language

  • English

Media Info

  • Media Type: Digital/other
  • Features: Figures; Maps; References; Tables;
  • Pagination: 21p
  • Monograph Title: TRB 93rd Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 01516241
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Report/Paper Numbers: 14-5241
  • Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
  • Created Date: Feb 28 2014 12:32PM