Evaluation and Relocating Bicycle Sharing Stations in Mashhad City using Multi-Criteria Analysis

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the present status of Mashhad’s Bicycle Sharing (BS) Program's stations, and to locate future stations, taking into account the 7 criteria of “proximity to subway stations”, “proximity to other stations”, “distance from important intersections”, “distance from population centers”, “proximity to educational, recreational and commercialcenters”, “slope level” and “proximity to cycling infrastructure (bike lanes)”. The approach employed by the present study is Multiple-criteria decision making (MCDM) and Fuzzy membership maps and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) based on GIS to weight the 7 mentioned criteria, also the stations will be ranked based on VIKOR approach and finally categorized through Jenks natural breaks classification method (JENKS). In order to analyze the data ArcGIS 10 software has been used. The findings show that 26 stations (20.3%) are very unsatisfactory and 25 stations (19.5%) are unsatisfactory among the total 128 stations that have been built so far. The findings also indicate that there are a lot of stations with very unsatisfactory conditions on the borders of the coverage area of the BS program which imply that widespread coverage has been prioritized over efficiency and proper distribution of the stations. Also 22 planned stations that have been stipulated in the contract between Mashhad’s municipality and the beneficiary firm have been located based on the ratings that were assigned. This study, as the first study with the mentioned approach on this subject in Iran shows that priorities regarding the performance of BS program may not be well conceived in different regions and cities, especially in developing countries with their own specific conditions. Thus, in this research we have tried to present the existing problems in locating the stations, and contribute to development of the existing programs and possible future programs in other cities.