Abstract
We scrutinize the reactions of casual users of bikesharing services to fare menu, product pricing, and promotion. We hypothesize that by introducing value-based pricing into the fare-option mix, revenues can be increased and therefore enhance the economic sustainability of the bikesharing system. We conducted a controlled experimental survey of 157 current and potential bikeshare users across six cities in the United States. The survey registered the respondents’ choice of fare options in two groups: one with a binary choice set (control group) and the other with an additional value-priced choice (experimental group). Evidence points to users’ perception of value in bikeshare fare options would contribute to variations in revenues for the same ridership levels. Revenue projections and statistical tests showed that the introduction of value-based pricing options could lead to significant revenue increases. Furthermore, how the fare options are presented to the user would have an impact on users’ reception to the value-based pricing options in the product mix. The study results could be useful for numerous bikeshare systems in re-examining their product mixes and how they are presented to the users on websites, mobile apps and kiosk locations.
Keywords:
- decoy pricing
- value-based pricing
- behavioural economics
- bikeshare
- capital bikeshare
- pricing
- micromobility
- shared mobility
- revenue
- ridership
How to Cite:
Venigalla, M., Rayaprolu, S., Brennan, T., Kaviti, S., Venigalla, M., Brennan, T., Kaviti, S., Venigalla, M., Brennan, T. & Kaviti, S.,
(2020) “Could Value-based Pricing Improve Economic Sustainability of Bikeshare? ”,
Journal of Modern Mobility Systems 1,
131-137.
doi: https://doi.org/10.13021/jmms.2020.2709