morgan whitcomb, equity in bike share: practical methods for addressing equity and measuring...

Pro Walk Pro Bike Pro Place 2014

Equity in Bike Share: Practical

Methods for Addressing Equity

and Measuring Outcomes

9 September, 2014

Morgan Whitcomb, PE, Sam Schwartz Engineering

Melissa Ballate, Blue Daring

Nicole Freedman, City of Boston

Andrew Duvall, Ph.D., University of Colorado Denver

• Morgan Whitcomb, PE, is a transportation engineer at Sam Schwartz Engineering. She has recently managed the design, implementation and outreach for Chicago’s bike share system, Divvy. Divvy launched in June 2013 with 300 stations and will expand by 175 stations in 2015. For other various cities, she has worked on many aspects of bike share planning including station siting, feasibility studies, implementation plans, and training.

• Melissa Ballate is the President of Blue Daring. Melissa has special expertise in strategic branding, marketing strategy, community outreach and the web. For over 11 years she has advised mid-size businesses and corporations, entrepreneurs and organizations in industries as diverse as manufacturing, retail, automotive, healthcare and the public sector. Her clients have included the Chicago Housing Authority, Hospira, Evans Food, the City of Chicago and countless mid-size and start-up businesses. Since 2012, she and the team at Blue Daring have been working alongside the Chicago Department of Transportation to conduct the public outreach and subsequently equity research and marketing for Chicago's Divvy bike share system.

Introductions

• Nicole Freedman currently works as Director of Bicycle Programs for the City of Boston. The program is part of Mayor Menino’s vision for healthy, sustainable communities and neighborhoods. During her tenure, she has helped Mayor Menino transform Boston from the worst cycling city in the country to a recognized leader in cycling. Nicole attended MIT before graduating with a degree in Urban Planning from Stanford University. Prior to working for Boston, Nicole competed professionally in bike racing from 1994-2005 winning two national championships and competing for the United States in the 2000 Olympics in Sidney.

• Dr. Andrew Duvall is a Research Assistant Professor of Health and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Colorado Denver. His present research is on the health, environmental, and economic impacts of public bicycle sharing, with a concentration on equity of participation among minority and low-income populations.

Introductions, continued

Bike share users are not reflective of

city residents

Feasibility, system design & station siting

Operations & contracts

Outreach & education

Marketing & branding

Community partnerships

Training & jobs programs

Administration & membership policies

Alternative pricing & purchasing

Data, reporting, surveys & research

Many avenues for progress

• Chicago’s Divvy, Morgan Whitcomb & Melissa Ballate Feasibility & heat mapping

System area design & station siting

System area evaluation

Outreach

Targeted research

Marketing, engagement, education

• Boston’s Hubway, Nicole Freedman Administration & membership programs

Marketing

Station siting

• Denver B-cycle, Andrew Duvall Research & surveying techniques

Informing strategies with research

What you will hear today

Pro Walk Pro Bike Pro Place 2014

Equitable System Design &

Evaluation

9 September, 2014

Morgan Whitcomb, PE, Sam Schwartz Engineering

• Service area was not directly determined by heat mapping or by outreach responses

Starts downtown then extends went out to north, south & west

Tried to capture highest density areas and does not include low density industrial uses to the near southwest

• Station density within the service area did correlate to population and employment density

• Heat mapping and regression analysis was used to evaluate service area and to determine target areas

Chicago’s approach to service area

design

• Three maps: potential, equity, potential X equity Potential

❭ Population density

❭ Employment density

❭ % ages 20 – 39

❭ % ped bike commuters

❭ Business concentration

❭ Barriers (as a negative to potential)

❭ Parks

❭ L & bus boardings

❭ L & bus frequency

Equity ❭ HH medial income

❭ Non-white population

❭ Educational attainment

Potential multiplied by equity shows areas that could influence ridership characteristics the most

• In addition, regression modeling to evaluate performance and plan expansion was a separate exercise.

Chicago’s approach to heat mapping

Population

Density

Employment

Density

% Ages 20 - 39

% Ped/Bike

Commuters

HH Median

Income

Non-White

Population

Educational

Attainment

Business

Concentration

Barriers

(Network

Connectivity)

Parks

L Boardings

Bus Boardings

L Frequency

Bus Frequency

“Potential”

“Equity”

Potential x

Equity

27

• The problem with heat maps… they are only as

good as what you put in.

Using other cities ridership factors reinforces

existing ridership profiles

Double counting for population and employment

density

Use the goals of the system to inform what

factors to include in heat map

Lessons

• How much of your city is served?

• How many people and households are served?

• How well does the demographics of your service

area correlate to your city?

• How well does ridership demographics correlate

to your service area?

• Where in your service area are rides per capita

not keeping up with stations per capita?

Evaluating the service area

• Divvy members are:

69% male

79% Caucasian

Average age of 34

93% have a college degree or more

Moderate to high household incomes

Chicago rider demographics

How much of your city is served?

21%

44%

52%

38%

57%

64%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

% of city area % of city population

% of households

2013 vs 2015 Service Area

300 Stations

475 Stations

42%

21%

15%

50% 47%

23%

17%

45%

53%

22% 20%

34%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

% non-white % below poverty line

% with no high school

diploma

% with a bachelors or

higher

2013 Service Area vs 2015 Service Area vs City

300 Stations

475 Stations

Chicago

How well does your service area

correlate with your city?