Gender disparities in New York City bike share usage

Abstract

By understanding gender disparities in bike share usage in New York City, programs can be better tailored to increase cycling and bike share usage among female members. Data from bike trips and a Citi Bike enrollment survey for the period 2013–2018 were used for this analysis. Associations comparing female to male members on selected study variables were examined through the estimation of odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) using bivariate logistic regression models and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests for continuous non-normal data. Spatial autocorrelation of bike share station pick ups and drop offs by percentage of female bike share members was detected using local Moran’s I. This study included 226,237 Citi Bike members; of these, over one-third (38.1%) self-identified as female. The optional enrollment survey was completed by 33,945 members; of these, 37.9% self-identified as female. Compared to male gender, female gender was associated with younger age, higher levels of education completed, being a student and not employed, and lower household income, as well as social and health reasons for membership rather than utilitarian reasons. Overall, female members took fewer bike share trips (median: 46.0 per year vs. 78.5 for males). There was spatial correlation between station usage and gender, with female members more likely than male members to use Citi Bikes in less dense neighborhoods. The results from this study highlight the gender disparity in bike share membership and usage in NYC and provide insight into how this gap could be reduced.

Keywords:

• Bicycling
• bike share
• gender
• physical activity

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge Sungwoo Lim, Hannah Gould, Charon Gwynn, James Hadler, and Hannah Helmy for reviewing previous drafts of this article.

Declaration of interest statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors. The authors did not receive any specific funding for this work.