Gil Andrade
Gil Andrade Gontijo is a Master's student in the Graduate Program in Transportation Engineering (PPGET) at the Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo (USP), where he also earned his degree in Electrical Engineering with an emphasis on Computing. He currently works as a Laboratory Specialist at the Center for Metropolitan Studies (CEM) at USP. With experience in Transportation System Planning and Organization, his research uses big data and spatial analysis to investigate urban micromobility focused on bike-sharing systems.
Sesión
Traditional mobility planning treats cyclists as a homogeneous group, with infrastructure evaluation metrics focusing primarily on utilitarian commuting. However, micromobility serves groups with different motivations, especially in unequal cities of the Global South. There is a lack of studies that observe route choice considering trip purpose. This research investigated how different user profiles interacted with the built environment, comparing the use of cycling infrastructure in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil.
A massive GPS dataset with over 12 million trips from bike-sharing systems was processed using map matching algorithms for exact route reconstruction. The system operator provided the categorization of trip purposes, inferred primarily from subscription plans, usage frequency, and origin-destination station matching. The analysis evaluated how the proportion of routes traveled on dedicated bike lanes changed according to user type and city. The results revealed different behaviors regarding the preference for paths with dedicated infrastructure. Leisure users deviated from the shortest routes to maximize the use of bike lanes in search of comfort and safety. In contrast, service cyclists prioritized direct routes, regardless of the availability of adequate infrastructure, reflecting the pressures of platform work.
The study demonstrated that standard bike lane planning does not seem to meet the needs of users who utilize the bicycle as an economic survival tool, exposing a severe gap in infrastructural justice. The results challenge traditional metrics and highlight the urgency of adopting people-centered indicators and their different profiles to promote equity in mobility-oriented public policies.