Understanding the impacts of COVID-19 on bike-sharing travel behaviors: Insights from the literature and a case study in New York City, USA

Abstract

The post-coronavirus era is a long-lasting challenge, but also a window of opportunities to strengthen the role of bike-sharing in molding a resilient transportation system. However, few studies have attempted to holistically review the recent literature in the last four years. This study aims to identify emerging topics regarding the impact of COVID-19 on bike-sharing by systematically critiquing research published between 2020 and 2023. The review was complemented by a case study in New York (USA) to address a research gap identified by the review. Scientometric analysis was applied to demonstrate research frontiers. We constructed and visualized network maps that depict information on the citations and terms of the documents that frequently appear in the title, keywords, and abstract of each reviewed document. Next, a clustering-based procedure was developed to infer and compare the major trip purposes in different pandemic periods for the case study. The results reveal that emerging topics include infection risks, active travel, and modal substitution that were less discussed before the pandemic. The results of the case study show that both residential and work trips had experienced significant growth before and after the outbreak, while residential trips saw a slightly higher increase in terms of the number of commuters. Additionally, residential trips can partly replace work trips in most Manhattan communities during the pandemic, implying that people may become more dependent on bike-sharing when working from home is prioritized. This research provides new perspectives on the pandemic’s impact on bike-sharing for researchers. Practitioners may use the tools to better understand how the pandemic may drive changes in travel behaviors and plan accordingly.