In this study a unique bicycle sharing program (BSP) is studied: a BSP initiated by an urban transit provider (buses and trams). The idea is that the combined use of BSPs and buses and trams could increase the catchment area of urban transit alone, therefore offering a more competitive alternative for the car. However, in the scientific literature hardly any knowledge is available regarding to what extent, by whom and how this bicycle – urban transit combination is used. This study explores the so-called ‘HTM-fiets’ programme in The Hague, the Netherlands, operated by urban transit operator HTM. Within the case, data was collected through a survey among the users of this program. The results indicate that, in this case, only 9% of the respondents use HTM-fiets in combination with urban transit. Of bike users who use HTM-fiets as a stand-alone mobility option (i.e. without combining it with transit), 46% have used the HTM-bike as substitute for bus and tram. Our results imply that the transit provider of ‘HTM-fiets’ faces difficult policy choices. The large degree of substitution may negatively influence their business case. However, a large degree of substitution is at the same time not a problem per se for them, because this substitution may alleviate crowding problems in transit and ‘HTM-fiets’ can be seen as an extra service by them offered to people in the Hague to ensure better accessibility of the city. The main lesson would be to focus on an integrated design of BSP and public transport in case a complementary system is aimed for, since our case shows clearly that without an integrated design especially substitution will take place from urban transit to the bicycle.

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Governments worldwide are aiming to increase sustainable mode use to increase sustainability, livability, and accessibility. Integration of bicycle and transit can increase catchment areas of transit compared with walking and thus provide better competition to non-sustainable modes. To achieve this, effective measures have to be designed that require a better understanding of the factors influencing access mode and station choice. At the national/regional level this has been thoroughly studied, but there is a knowledge gap at the urban level. This study aims to investigate which factors influence the joint decision for tram access mode and tram station choice. The joint investigation can identify trade-offs between the access and transit journeys. Furthermore, the effect of each factor on the bicycle catchment area is investigated. Using data from tram travelers in The Hague, Netherlands, a joint simultaneous discrete choice model is estimated. Generally, walking is preferred to cycling. The findings of this study suggest that access distance is one of the main factors for explaining the choice, where walking distance is weighted 2.1 times cycling distance. Frequent cyclists are more likely also to cycle to the tram station, whereas frequent tram users are less inclined to cycle. Bicycle parking facilities increase the cycling catchment area by 234 m. The transit journey time has the largest impact on the catchment area of cyclists. Improvements to the system, such as fewer stops, higher frequency (like light rail transit), or both, therefore would result in a much longer accepted cycling distance.@en