signature=fedb52cdaa1a8c0f80b11375a0fa940b,MacSphere: UNDERSTANDING BIKE SHARE CYCLIST ROUTE CHOICE ...

Abstract:This thesis examines the existence of a dominant route between a hub pair and factors

that influence bike share cyclists route choices. This research collects 132,396 hub

to-hub global positioning system (GPS) trajectories over a 12-month period between

April 1, 2015 and March 31, 2016 from 750 bicycles provided by a bike share program

(BSP) called SoBi (Social Bicycles) Hamilton. Then, a GIS-based map-matching

toolkit is used to convert GPS points to map-matched trips and generate a series of

route attributes. In order to create choice sets, unique routes between the same hub

pair are extracted from all corresponding repeated trips using a link signature tool.

The results from t statistics and Path-size logit models indicate that bike share cyclists

are willing to detour for some positive features, such as bicycle facilities and low traffic

volumes, but they also try to avoid too circuitous routes, turns, and steep slopes over

4% though detouring may come with a slight increase in turns. This research not

only helps us understand BSP cyclist route preferences but also presents a GIS-based

approach to determine potential road segments for additional bike facilities on the

basis of such preferences.