Promoting considerate parking behavior in dockless bike-sharing: An experimental study

TLDR: In this article, the authors show that behavioral incentives may be an effective tool to address a common issue with this form of transportation and demonstrate that the warning message and monetary incentive shift users' behavior compared with the social norm intervention.

Abstract: Dockless shared bicycles have become a popular mode of transportation for city dwellers in China. Despite its convenience, the dockless feature also creates new challenges, as users often park shared bicycles in a disorderly fashion, which places a burden on both city management and business operations. In a randomized field experiment, subjects receive general information via one of three interventions to improve orderly parking: being informed about the social norm, receiving a warning message, or being offered a monetary incentive. The results suggest that the warning message and monetary incentive shift users’ behavior compared with the social norm intervention. Users who received warning messages were 18.0% more likely to park in an orderly fashion, and users who received a monetary incentive were 25.2% more likely. This study demonstrates that behavioral incentives may be an effective tool to address a common issue with this form of transportation.