A comparative study of bike-sharing systems from a user’s perspective: An analysis of online reviews in three U.S. regions between 2010 and 2018

Seeking to reduce carbon emissions and increase active travel, U.S. cities have increasingly adopted bike-sharing systems in recent years. However, despite the growing popularity of and markets for bike-sharing systems, little is known of how users perceive and evaluate their quality. By conducting (1) descriptive analysis of numeric ratings and (2) content analysis of the narrative sections of Yelp reviews, this study investigates the perceived quality of bike-sharing systems and factors affecting such perceptions in three U.S. regions: New York, Washington, D.C., and Chicago. It particularly focuses on regional and temporal variations in users’ evaluations of bike-sharing services, which remains understudied. The results show that the average rating of a bike-sharing system, as well as the factors included in users’ major evaluation criteria and complaint factors, are similar among regions. However, temporal shifts in users’ assessments of bike-sharing systems differ greatly by region, which reflect the different local contextual factors and the resultant regional variations in the bike-sharing service features. In addition to providing valuable guidance for increasing the use of bike-sharing systems, this study suggests that social media content can inform the development of planning solutions that are responsive to users’ needs.