全球目前有超過30個國家、135座城市、設置20萬部以上的公共自行車系統。公共自行車計畫重新定義自行車在城市中的地位，同時滿足都市中短程旅次的需求，在主流公共運輸系統中，創造一種新的運輸型式。 歐洲為公共自行車發起的區域，雖然有最多的城市投入建設，但是近三年來，中國大陸快速發展公共自行車，系統規模與公共自行車的數量已超越歐美各國，達到118,000部、3840租借站，成為全球最大的公共自行車國家。其中杭州提供50,000部、上海28,000部，數量遠超過巴黎，為全球第一與第二大的公共自行車城市。亞洲城市的公共自行車數量佔全球60%以上，惟過去研究多以歐美為主，缺乏對亞洲城市的瞭解與分析。 本研究探討公共自行車在綠色運輸中扮演的關鍵角色、比較歐美國家與亞洲國家發展公共自行車的現況類型、以及亞洲城市推動公共自行車的機會條件，並透過Rasch模式量測目前已運轉中的公共自行車系統以及未來新竹科學城建置之可行性，以瞭解現行公共自行車系統運作績效與各因子之關聯性，並做為後續深化研究與提供跨國比較之參考。

Public Bike Schemes (PBS) have grown significantly in popularity over the last several years, there are more than 30 countries, 135 cities, over 200,000 public bikes worldwide. Many major European cities and Asian cities have launched extensive schemes that are helping to redefine the perception of cycling and create a new form of mainstream public transport for short distance in urban journeys.
Through the largest schemes in Hangzhou with 50,000 public bikes and Shanghai with 28,000 public bikes in China, the Mainland China has become the largest PBS country in the world. Until 2010, there were more than 60% of public bikes implemented in Asian cities. However, researches and cases studies have been focused on European and American cities, public sectors and research academies have been ignored and neglected the importance of the fast growing phenomena of public bike schemes in Asia.
Since the green-transportation operating systems and business models of PBS are various and are depended on the diverse continental geography and culture case by case, this research will be focused on the cross-cultural comparison at country’s and city’s bases to differ the key factors between different regions.
By using RASCH model, this comprehensive comparative research results will be detected and will be provided a set of valuable information for evaluating the performance of Public Bike Schemes (PBS) in Asian cities. The overall goal of this research is to provide suggestions of reasonable public cycling policies and market segmentation to Taiwan.