Optimizing Bike Sharing Systems in Gothenburg: Enhancing Multimodal Public Transport Integration

Abstract

Rentable bike sharing systems (BSS) are an environmentally friendly way of transportation that has steadily gained popularity in cities worldwide in recent years. These micromobility vehicles provide a convenient solution to the first-mile/lastmile problem often associated with public transportation. While many studies have focused on determining the optimal placement of BSS stations to fulfill user demand, it is equally important to consider how well the BSS network integrates with other modes of public transport to encourage multi-modal travel. The aim of this thesis is to develop an optimization framework for determining the optimal placement of BSS stations to enhance multi-modal accessibility while ensuring demand fulfillment. The study focuses on the central parts of Gothenburg with demand evaluated through analysis of historical travel data. The proposed framework defines the problem as a facility location model, with the objective of maximizing a defined accessibility measure. Constraints are introduced to ensure the fulfillment of historical demand. Given the NP-hard nature of the problem, a metaheuristic optimization algorithm is employed to find an efficient solution. The resulting station placement is then compared to the current BSS station locations in Gothenburg and demonstrates that the proposed solution improves the multi-modal accessibility while successfully meeting historical demand.