Metropolitan bicycle-sharing system in the context of various needs of cities, towns, and villages

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.2478/bog-2021-0036

Keywords

bicycle, bicycle sharing system, cycling policy, e-bike, metropolitan area, Poland

Abstract

Bicycle-sharing systems (BSSs) have started to play an important role in the transport systems of cities worldwide as a sustainable alternative to the dominant motorised mobility culture. BSSs have also expanded over time to include regions and metropolitan areas as well as small towns and rural areas. The purpose of this paper is to identify and compare the goals of connecting individual communes in a metropolitan area to a metropolitan bicycle system. The authors applied a case study of the MEVO metropolitan bicycle system consisting of electrically assisted bicycles, introduced in 2019 in 14 communes of the Gdańsk-Gdynia-Sopot Metropolitan Area (GGSMA) in Poland. The study used GGSMA-designated metropolitan zoning to group the goals pursued by the participants when joining the project. This paper is the first to identify the goals that inclined small towns and rural areas to accede to the BSS. The results show that the largest cities in the metropolis that make up its core count on bike sharing to solve the problems of congested city centres, while small towns and rural areas see the BSS as an opportunity to improve the quality of life of the inhabitants, as the first mode of public transport, as an opportunity to be closer and more identified with the metropolitan core, and as a chance to develop tourism and recreation.

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KWIATKOWSKI, Michał Adam. Metropolitan bicycle-sharing system in the context of various needs of cities, towns, and villages. Bulletin of Geography. Socio-economic Series. Online. 10 December 2021. No. 54, pp. 97-111. [Accessed 29 June 2025]. DOI 10.2478/bog-2021-0036.

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