Bikesharing is currently rather hot in China because of the emergence of a new form bikesharing program, namely non-docking bikesharing. It is called Mobike of Ofo, two of most wide-accepted bikesharing program. More and more people tend to ride the bikesharing for commuting, shopping, entertainment, exercise, et al. There is no docking station, which is different from the tradional bikesharing before. As they are avaiable around us easily, commuters can ride it to their workplace directly or regard it as a transfer mode. Based on this assumption, will this new form of bikesharing mitigate the urban traffic congestion in the future? I hold a positive attitude.
I think it depends on the local culture
Nice topic and you may look for some case studies for further details.
This is an interesting and challenging question. Many factors may make these shared mobility solutions positively/negatively impact urban traffic. How many bikes were shared? How are these shared bikes managed at intersections, links, etc.? Sufficient bike lanes/roads? Imagining a city without car but just bikes, is it perfect? Perhaps there will be bike traffic congestion:) All in all, one answer cannot fit for all cities' conditions.
In the beginning of this bike-sharing movement, I think most people took it for granted that the parking space for those bikes is a minor problem and would not generate much impact on the city. This was a reasonable assumption at that stage given the small scale of bike-sharing. However, with the massive development of bike-sharing in Chinese cities, it is now clear that parking space may no longer be an issue that can be ignored. Some solution has to be found. The best way, I think, is to charge a parking fee for those bikes that could be shared by their users.
Just some thoughts. Hope they might be helpful to you.
FD
I do believe this type of concept will ease urban traffic congestion because bikes can not be used for all purposes and by all categories of people obviously so they have their own target audience or so called niche...
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