Prof Gopalakrishnan awarded FRQSC New Academics Grant

Congratulations to Sanjith Gopalakrishnan, Assistant Professor in Operations Management, who has been awarded the 2023-2024 FRQSC New Academics Grant (Soutien à la recherche pour la relève professorale):

“Systèmes de vélo-partage: Répercussions économiques et environnementales des stratégies opérationnelles”
(“Bike-sharing systems: Economic and environmental implications of operational strategies”)

Bike-sharing is a sustainable transportation option that aligns with global sustainable development goals, but some systems have struggled with financial difficulties due to high operational costs and lower than expected ridership. Additionally, the environmental benefits of bike-sharing may be overstated, as surveys have shown that a significant portion of riders would have taken a bus, walked, or not traveled at all if bike-sharing were not available. Bike-share operators and city transport planners have at their disposal a few key strategic levers such as the coverage, location, and density of the bike-share system, the pricing scheme, and the desired rebalancing service level. However, the role played by these operational strategies on the long-term financial and environmental performance of bike-sharing systems are not well understood. The proposed research program aims to address this by studying a continuous approximation model of bike-sharing systems and analyzing discrete-event simulations calibrated with real data to develop tailored operational recommendations.

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