Evaluating Bikers’ Experience in Guangzhou, China

Traveling by bike is not only good for the environment but also good for the rider’s health. The birth of the shared bike system undoubtedly provides further conveniences for the citizens. It is significant to understand user experience, as building bike infrastructure and facilities should draw from such understanding. This thesis focuses on understanding bike riders’ user experience in Guangzhou, China. The target populations are 18 – 60 years old Guangzhou citizens who have biking experience. Bike users’ opinions are collected from an online survey and follow-up interviews. Overall, the results suggest that bike users are moderately satisfied with biking in Guangzhou and agree that Guangzhou needs further improvements in biking safety, cost of shared bikes, accessibility to shared bikes, or bike infrastructure (bike lanes, signage, etc.) to elevate bike users’ experiences. Different groups of population (age, gender, biking frequency) have subtle differences in the satisfaction with their biking experiences. Higher-frequency bikers are slightly more satisfied with biking in Guangzhou. For future implications, Guangzhou could deploy traffic coordinators along bicycle lanes to maintain order and enhance safety. Planning agencies should construct more bicycle lanes in the future. Government and shared bike companies could collaborate and provide discount incentives to encourage bike use. More shared bike stations might be needed in suburban areas.