Information Systems Support of Bike Sharing Systems
Over the past years, BSS(Bike Sharing Systems) have evolved from unsupervised to fully automated systems. In the beginnings, bike sharing suffered from anonymous use that led to theft. In recent years, the implementation of information systems in bike sharing overcame theft and enabled easy and quick access supporting rentals and returns at automated stations providing one-way trips. The implementation of BSS is rapidly growing. According to Midgley (2009), about 80 systems with almost 27,000 bikes and more than 4600 stations were in operation in May 2009. About 400 BSS have been introduced in Europe during the last 10 years. Markets in America and Asia are catching up. In order to give more details on BSS, a brief overview of bike sharing evolution is presented. Furthermore, the automated service process enabled by information systems is discussed. Information systems also provide a vast amount of data reflecting the mobility behavior in BSS. For ...