A FEASIBILITY STUDY OF A BIKE SHARE PROGRAM (BSP) ON THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA CAMPUS by JUDITH NTOW OPPONG SETH APPIAH-OPOKU, COMMITTEE CHAIR JOSEPH WEBER STEVEN JONES A THESIS Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in the Department of Geography in the Graduate School of The University of Alabama TUSCALOOSA, ALABAMA 2019 Copyright Judith Oppong 2019 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ABSTRACT This thesis sets out to examine how feasible a bike share program will be at the University of Alabama (UA). Three case studies of campus bike sharing programs across the United States are used to show the different bike sharing systems in existence. The advantages of a bike sharing program are highlighted to show how the system can offer alternative transportation to the university campus. The current status of bicycle uses on University of Alabama campus as well as policies put in place are also discussed. The last part of the thesis applies lessons learnt from the case studies and evolution of bike share to a feasibility study for UA campus. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My heart felt appreciation to our Lord God who has showered on me blessings, knowledge and understanding to reach this academic ladder. My sincere appreciation to my thesis committee members especially Dr. Seth Appiah-Opoku (chair), for their selfless contribution to the success of this work. Thank you for not giving up on me even when I didn’t know what I was doing. My appreciation also to the Director of the Transportation Services for his contribution towards this study. My profound gratitude to my family especially my deceased father whose sacrifice has brought me this far in life and academically. May his soul continue to Rest in Peace! and may the Almighty bless my mum, siblings and friends for their encouragement, love and support through it all. I couldn’t have made it this far without you all!!!!!! iii CONTENTS ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................................................................ ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................................................................................. iii LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................................................................... vi LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................................................................ vii 1: INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Problem Statement ............................................................................................................................................................. 3 1.3 Research Goal and Objectives ....................................................................................................................................... 3 1.4 Methodology ........................................................................................................................................................................ 4 Data Collection ................................................................................................................................................................ 4 Data Analysis .................................................................................................................................................................... 5 1.5 Limitations of the study ................................................................................................................................................... 5 2: THE BIKE SHARE SYSTEM ......................................................................................................................................... 6 2.1 Evolution of Bike Share ................................................................................................................................................... 6 First Generation Bike Share (1960s)......................................................................................................................... 6 Second Generation Bike Share (1990s) .................................................................................................................... 7 Third Generation Bike Share (2000s) ....................................................................................................................... 7 Bike Library ....................................................................................................................................................................... 8 Distributed Bike Share ................................................................................................................................................... 9 2.2 Bike Types .......................................................................................................................................................................... 10 Regular Bikes (Traditional bikes) ............................................................................................................................. 10 Electric-Bikes (E-Bikes) ............................................................................................................................................... 11 Scooters ............................................................................................................................................................................. 12 iv 3: RESEARCH FINDINGS ................................................................................................................................................. 14 3.1 Current Status of bicycle use on UA campus .......................................................................................................... 14 3.2 Existing UA Bicycle Programs and Policies ........................................................................................................... 16 3.3 Campus Bike Share Programs ...................................................................................................................................... 17 Case Study of Campus Bike Share Programs ................................................................................................................. 17 3.3.1 Auburn War Eagle Bike Share Program ............................................................................................................... 17 3.3.2 University of Kentucky Wildcats Wheels............................................................................................................. 20 3.3.3 University of South Florida (USF) Share-A-Bull Bike Share Program ..................................................... 22 3.3.4 Comparison..................................................................................................................................................................... 24 3.4 Expectations of Potential Users ................................................................................................................................... 25 3.5 Policy Recommendations .............................................................................................................................................. 38 4: CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................................................................... 43 4.1 Summary ............................................................................................................................................................................. 43 REFERENCES ......................................................................................................................................................................... 46 APPENDIX A: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE............................................................................................................. 48 APPENDIX B: IRB CERTIFICATE ................................................................................................................................ 52 v LIST OF TABLES Table 1 Comparison between the 3 campus bike share programs ................................................ 24 vi LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 Bike Library Bike Share ................................................................................................... 9 Figure 2 Distributed (Tech-on-bike) Bike Share .......................................................................... 10 Figure 3 Auburn War Eagle Bike Share ...................................................................................... 19 Figure 4 Wildcats Wheels Station Location ................................................................................. 21 Figure 5 USF Share-A-Bull Bike Share........................................................................................ 23 Figure 6 Potential Bike share use .................................................................................................. 25 Figure 7 Why the need for a bike share program