Examining the Impact of Bike Share Stations on Micro-Level Street Robbery Counts

• In Event: Crime and Place: Transit Crime

Abstract

As a part of the surging sharing economy, bike-sharing systems have become a major component of cites’ transportation networks. To facilitate usage, bike-sharing stations are mostly located outdoors in highly trafficked areas, thus representing a new type of node that links major transportation pathways in the urban backcloth. Similar to other places that have been linked to higher levels of street robbery, bike-share stations generate high levels of human activity. It follows that bike-sharing stations may act as crime generators because they concentrate large numbers of people who may make attractive robbery targets at predictable times and locations. This study tests this hypothesis by examining the impact of bike-sharing stations on micro-level street robbery counts in a medium-sized Midwestern city.

Authors

• Cory P. Haberman, University of Cincinnati

• Jeffrey E. Clutter, University of Cincinnati

• Samantha Marie Henderson, University of Cincinnati