A Study on Bicycle-Sharing Dispatching Station Site Selection and Planning Based on Multivariate Data

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The authors skilfully elaborate on the conclusions drawn from the research.Throughout the course of his narrative, he is in full command of the material gathered. There are many independent assessments and generalisations in the work which deviate from streotypical phrases or judgements. The research problem is comprehensively described and the research results presented are not objectionable. The author is well acquainted with the literature on the subject.The number of publications used in the reviewed work definitely exceeds the requirements for this area. The up-to-dateness of the bibliography deserves praise. less than 93% of the items come from the last 5 years. 

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Reviewer 2 Report

The work has scientific relevance and is well structured with well-defined objectives, having the advantage of being applied to a real case.
The results are also well founded and with an adequate discussion, however, presenting itself in a context of sustainability and making that same sustainability the motivation for the work carried out, I understand that the work should present the following analyses:
- it should evaluate the possible difference between using traditional or electric bicycles. The use of electric bikes, with a predictable and significant increase in their use, brings other inputs to this work allowing a higher use rate but introducing some model constraints that must be evaluated.
- It is required an analysis of the potential gains in terms of CO2 emissions reduction so that it is possible to carry out a cost/benefit of the proposed model.

Author Response

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Reviewer 3 Report

I read it with interest, although I do not deal with this topic. But that's why the authors should explain what the problem they're dealing with is so that even a layman can understand it.

Q1 :

« Due to the relatively compact urban layout and well-established bicycle lanes in Xia- men, the city provides good conditions for developing Bicycle-sharing. Therefore, selecting Xiamen Island as the study area is important for constructing bicycle-sharing dispatch stations »

Will the optimization model developed by the authors be applicable in cities that don’t have such good lay-out ?

Q2 : What is the optimization criterion? The lowest costs ? How best to match customer needs? Isn't the problem to plan the network of such stations in an optimal way - the number, distance, density? Number of stations or number of bikes in a station ? These are the basic questions that I can't find an answer to.

Q3 : What is « travel demand patterns » ?

Q4 : When developing and verifying the model, did the authors rely on real data?

Q5 : What is « bicycle-sharing dispatch community” ? Aren't these just stations - places to park bicycles?

Q6 : Are factors such as congestion taken into account in this model? Important places in the city?

Q7 : I understand that the term "fence" means the area where the bicycles are located?

Q8 : How does this system affect external costs? Are bicycles transported between stations? «This travel mode helps reduce energy consumption and drive the city's transition to a sustainable transport system» Does it mean that thanks to such a system, travel by other means of transport is limited?

Q9 : What is the variability and predictability of bicycle demand over time and space?

Q10 : Is there a minimum level of service potential that is necessary for users to be interested in this system?

Q11 : Is there a trade-off between the level of service satisfaction and the level of utilization of the service potential? I mean, is there such a problem that to ensure the availability of bicycles with fluctuating demand, they will not be properlu utilized? And if so, did the authors take into account the economic problem - the costs and benefits of such a system. And here another question arises - is it supposed to be a commercial service or is it a municipal service provided by the city?

Q12 : I understand this sentence: «Increasing the density of bus 422 stops promotes bicycle-sharing use. » means that bus and bicycle services are not in competition with each other, but complementary? Together they form an integrated system - the user rides a bicycle and changes to public transport? Is this problem addressed in the proposed algorithm?

Please also clearly explain what is new in the proposed algorithm compared to the ones developed so far.

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Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

Congrats on this work. I believe that this work could be in fact better, but it is a very good start for implementing a bicycle-sharing system.

Author Response

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Reviewer 3 Report

Dear authors, thank you for the comprehensive answers to my questions, which I asked, among others, because I was interested in the subject and the research problem. I accept the article and wish you success in the development of the bicycle system in China.

Author Response

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