Bluebikes at the Blue Line

As transport planners around the world attempt to bridge the first-mile/last-mile gap and improve accessibility to public transport systems, many, including those in Boston, have turned to micromobility modes, such as bikesharing, as a solution. While bikesharing systems have the potential to facilitate connections to public transport, they may also be used as a replacement mode altogether. This is especially of concern in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, when fears of infection have disincentivized public transport travel. The full effects of bikesharing systems on public transport ridership, especially during pandemics, therefore remains unclear. In order to inform the planning of bikesharing systems in Boston and similar cities, this research studies the association between the presence of bikesharing facilities and ridership at subway stations in Boston, both under normal conditions and throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. To do so, it conducts a statistical analysis of subway ridership data from January 2019 through October 2021. Through a series of ordinary least squares regressions, this research tests hypotheses from other cities on this association, the moderating effect of station area density, and the moderating effect of the pandemic, in the context of Boston. This research finds that the presence of bikesharing facilities is positively associated with ridership at subway stations in Boston, but this association is negatively moderated by the employment density of the area surrounding the station. Thus, locating bikesharing facilities at subway stations is associated with higher ridership for stations with few jobs in the area, but this association diminishes as the number of jobs in the station area increases. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic in Boston caused the association between bikesharing facilities and subway station ridership, as well as the moderating effect of employment density, to temporarily disappear, before gradually returning in late 2020. In addition to informing the academic debate on this topic, this research recommends that planners in Boston and similar cities invest in and expand their bikesharing systems to improve subway station accessibility and boost subway ridership. These efforts, however, should be focused in peripheral stations where employment density is low for the greatest benefits. Finally, this research advises planners that, during future crises that reduce the public’s willingness to travel on public transport, the accessibility benefits of bikesharing systems likely will not be enough to keep riders on public transport, so other solutions are necessary.