Will temporarily free bike sharing change transport behavior forever? Evidence from a free rides’ promotion on trip demand

Abstract The relation between price and transport demand is one of the main aspects of transport mode choice. While price elasticities are well known for conventional transport modes like driving or public transport, only few studies exist dealing with fares and prices for rather new (shared) modes like bike sharing. In particular, hardly no evidence is available on the impact of the usage fee on trip demand for urban bike share systems. Therefore, the present paper develops an empirical approach to estimate the impact of a temporarily introduced 30-day free bike share rides promotion in Boston, MA in summer 2022. Based on daily trip data of bike sharing systems in Boston, MA and Washington, D.C., a difference-in-differences model is estimated to analyze the impact of the free fare. Results show that trip demand rise by up to 55% due to the waived usage fee during the time of the promotion. Furthermore, model results reveal that trip demand stays at a 20% increased level even three months after the end of the fare free program.