Bike sharing system in city of Kigali

Abstract

This thesis develops an implementation of Bike Share System in City of Kigali. A work was conducted to investigate the feasibility of bike sharing as well as the trends and related impacts. A comparison between the station-based and the free-floating systems was carried out. With strong modernization, the number of the users of automobiles increases associated with important warming, air pollution, and traffic congestion. Consequently, certain measures were taken by many countries in the world to overcome this big challenge. From the above problem system, I set the following objectives: The first objective of the work is to assess whether introduction of Bike share scheme in City of Kigali is technically feasible. The second objective is to analyze the Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) of the introduction of Bike sharing schemes in City of Kigali. To address the research objectives, the mixed method was used for this work. The primary data was obtained through a formal interview and administration of questionnaires. Secondary data was obtained from case study of existing literature on bike sharing programs. Based on field findings, 41% of respondents are users of bike in their daily lives (the bike cyclists). The number of residents is estimated at 32% of the total number of surveyed respondents, and while the businesses and the workers were estimated at 12% of the respondents. These findings depict that all users of bike were represented in this study. Nearly 47% of surveyed respondents already own a bike, but 20% aged between 18-30 and 31-50 do not use a bike for transportation because they do not own a bike. In addition, 15 rarely use bike as mode of transportation. The majority of respondents were willing to pay 4,500 x 2 = 9,000 RWF /day, RWF 270,000/month or 3,240,000 RWF /year and 63% ware willing to pay more than 3,240,000 Rwf per year. From the field investigation and findings obtained, the bike share system is technically feasible in City of Kigali. This is justified by the presence of flat slope, the willingness of potential users, and the easy access to bikes from outside to Rwanda. A context analysis was implemented to study the security, the mobility, the potential barriers to bike share and possible strategies to deal with them in City of Kigali. Initial planning of the bike share was defined using a combination of georeferenced spatial analysis, territorial analysis, and multi-criteria evaluation. Five different criteria were considered: i) accessibility zones, ii) Cycle path infrastructure, iii) Population and employment density, iv) Origin and destination trips, and v) Slope. Bike Sharing System in Kigali City Using GIS, a global suitability layer was built and the service area of the system was proposed accordingly (see map). More detailed planning of the system was performed, to establish the location of stations and determine the number of stations, bikes, and docks. Spatial analysis with Arc GIS was used to assign a specific size to each bike share station. Accordingly, a cost benefit analysis was implemented using the Net Present Value to study the profitability. As well, a financial analysis was made including the external costs/benefits of the bike share.