Electronic Fence Planning For Shared Bicycles Based On K-means Clustering Algorithm

With the development of the shared economy,shared bicycle system,with its advantages of flexibility,convenience,low price,and environmental protection,has grown rapidly once it appears.It now plays an important role as a transfer mode for public transit.However,it also brought a lot of troubles,such as disorderly parking.This problem hinders the use of transportation facilities,causes traffic congestion,and increases probability of traffic accidents.In order to solve the problem of bicycle parking,the government agencies have issued relevant policies to regulate the parking behavior of bicycle users.Among them,the use of electronic fence systems to restrict the areas where bicycle can be parked is a feasible solution.Although some previous studies analyzed this solution,they usually focus on a small scale or only considered limited number of influencing factors.As a result,this study explores this topic by analyzing city-level data.The trip data of one bike sharing company in Chengdu,China is analyzed.A framework for determining the number and the location of the electric fences is proposed to minimize the total cost.The framework is mainly composed of two parts.In the first part,the K-means algorithm is used to cluster the drop-off points by specifying the number of fences desired,and the cluster center is determined as the location of the electronic fences.In the second part,the operating cost of electronic fences by bike sharing companies and the cost of users are quantified.The number and the location of fences are determined by minimizing the cost of both companies and users.Finally,the framework is verified using the trip data of shared bicycles in Chengdu.By setting different numbers of electronic fences,the location and the total cost are obtained.The results show that when the number of electronic fences is 7500,the total cost is minimal.In addition,the higher the salary level is,the more valuable users’ time is,and the more electronic fences are needed.The higher the land price,the construction and maintenance cost of electronic fences are,and the fewer electronic fences there will be.