ABSTRACT
Bike sharing can leverage its physical distancing advantages for responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, but system management and communication are essential to support healthy transportation. This study addresses the need to understand the range of bike share systems' responses to the pandemic by reviewing bike share system cases in the United States and reports survey responses from bike share users in San Antonio (TX). Five out of eleven bike share systems communicated their responses to the pandemic online at the time of review. 43% of survey respondents who were unemployed due to the pandemic reported increasing use of the bike share system, whereas 36% of employed respondents decreased ridership. Most respondents were unaware of the bike share operator's steps to control the spread of COVID-19 for users. Moderate-frequency riders (1-2 times per month) may increase bike sharing the most after Coronavirus restrictions are lifted, from 22% of respondents to 34%. Based on our findings, we suggest bike share operators should expand communication efforts about policies and actions to support community health, explore how to serve unemployed and low-income communities best, and prepare for the equitable expansion of ridership following the pandemic.
ABSTRACT
Transportation planners increasingly use new forms of online public participation alongside traditional in-person approaches, including crowdsourcing tools capable of encouraging geographically specific input. Digital involvement may be particularly valuable in exploring methods to plan at a megaregional scale. Research is beginning to address digital inequalities, recognizing that broadband and smartphone access may restrict opportunities for disadvantaged groups. However, the geography and equity of participation remain pragmatic issues for practice and research. This paper reviews the geography and equity of the participation methods in Austin, Texas for active transportation (bicycling and pedestrian) through three approaches to co-produce informed plans: in-person meetings, public participation geographic information system (PPGIS), and an emerging smartphone platform that logs trips and encourages input on route quality. In addition to spatial analysis with standard deviational ellipses, we include qualitative case analysis to contextualize the geographic and equity implications of different participation approaches. Results show that both online techniques resulted in a larger geography for participation than in-person meetings, with the regional PPGIS covering the most area. However, review of the income levels in each area shows that use of the smartphone-based crowdsourcing platform was aligned with lowest-income areas. This study shows that online participation methods are not homogeneous regarding geography or equity. In some contexts, smartphone applications can help reach lower-income communities, even when compared with in-person meetings. Crowdsourcing tools can be valuable approaches to increase geography and equity of public participation in transportation planning.
ABSTRACT
Problem research strategy and findings: Planners increasingly involve stakeholders in co-producing vital planning information by crowdsourcing data using online map-based commenting platforms. Few studies, however, investigate the role and impact of such online platforms on planning outcomes. We evaluate the impact of participant input via a public participation geographic information system (PPGIS), a platform to suggest the placement of new bike share stations in New York City (NY) and Chicago (IL). We conducted 2 analyses to evaluate how close planners built new bike share stations to those suggested on PPGIS platforms. According to our proximity analysis, only a small percentage of built stations were within 100 feet (30m) of suggested stations, but our geospatial analysis showed a substantial clustering of suggested and built stations in both cities that was not likely due to random distribution. We found that the PPGIS platforms have great promise for creating genuine co-production of planning knowledge and insights and that system planners did take account of the suggestions offered online. We did not, however, interview planners in either system, and both cities may be atypical, as is bike share planning; moreover, multiple factors influence where bike stations can be located, so not all suggested stations could be built. Takeaway for practice: Planners can use PPGIS and similar platforms to help stakeholders learn by doing and to increase their own local knowledge to improve planning outcomes. Planners should work to develop better online participatory systems and to allow stakeholders to provide more and better data, continuing to evaluate PPGIS efforts to improve the transparency and legitimacy of online public involvement processes.
ABSTRACT
This research investigated people's communication of urban space as reflected in Twitter messages (tweets) during the 2012 Super Bowl. The authors archived over 600,000 tweets related to the Super Bowl from January 23 through early February 6. The authors identified 78 Indianapolis-area places or routes named in the tweets. Based on occurrence of these terms, the authors retained 9,103 city-specific messages for analysis. The frequency of such tweets changed over the two-week period and peaked two days before game day. Instances of all of Lynch's (1960) The Image of the City elements (node, district, landmark, path, and edge) were found in the tweets. While node-referencing terms were most common among the 78 spatial identifiers, district and landmark references were most common in the tweet sample. Edge references were almost non-existent and only occurred as named waterways. This research has implications for city-oriented social media monitoring efforts for future special events.
