The cooperation strategy of a metro company with two bike-sharing platforms

“Metro + shared bikes” refers to a green combined travel mode with metro as the main means and shared bikes as a last-mile access mode for feeder trips. In recent years, to attract more passengers to choose “metro + shared bikes” for travel and increase revenue, some metro companies have begun to cooperate with bike-sharing platforms. There are two common cooperation strategies in practice. One is the price discount, i.e., metro companies offer cycling price discounts to passengers on the platforms. The other is the information sharing, i.e., metro companies share passengers’ travel information with the platforms. This study focuses on a market composed of a metro company, a bike-sharing platform with a high market position (Platform A), and a bike-sharing platform with a low market position (Platform B), and investigates the metro company’s cooperation strategy with the platforms. The results show that the metro company’s decision is related to passengers’ sensitivity to cycling price discounts and to convenient travel. When the passenger’s sensitivity to cycling price discount is high (low) and that to convenient travel is low (high), the metro company should select the price discount strategy (information sharing strategy) with Platforms A and B. When the passenger’s sensitivity to cycling price discount and that to convenient travel are moderate, the metro company should select the information sharing strategy with Platform A and the price discount strategy with Platform B. These findings can provide theoretical guidance for the decision-making of metro companies.