Overview

Innovating bike-sharing service for easier accessbility, safety, fitness, and environmental sustainability 🚴

Bike-sharing is a program that makes bicycles available for shared use for everyone on a short term basis for a price. Embracing the future shared mobility concept, I created an innovative bike-sharing platform Bikable to achieve safety, fitness, and environmental sustainability by deploying new technologies.

Tech-driven services include algorithm-based AI learner that recognizes riding patterns to personalize next routes to save time; ultrasonic sensors that detect approaching vehicles and send alarms; data collection that keeps track of rides and calculates calories burned and CO2 saved with rewards as motivation to encourage more bike rides; cycling AR glasses that go beyond the screen with voice interaction to get some extra reality visualizations and navigations.

We currently have access to shared bike rental systems, such as Jump Bike, Blue Bike etc, offering convenient alternatives for urban mobility. However, the user experience has been less than satisfactory for many, including myself, leading to a series of problems. Issues range from the practical aspects of finding and accessing bikes, to the condition and availability of the bikes themselves, including accessibility, maintenance, vandalism, safety concerns, the lack of cycling infrastructure etc.

The Value of Bike-Sharing in Sustainability

Despite these challenges, bike-sharing programs are still valuable components of urban transportation networks, offering a sustainable alternative to traditional public transit and personal vehicles.

Competitive Analysis

I started with the existing bike-sharing services/apps to systematically evaluate strengths and weaknesses and identify gaps in the market, helping in understanding how the bike-sharing service compares to others in terms of features, pricing, user experience, and market positioning.

Quantitative Research Discoveries

• Theft and destruction of dockless bikes
• No available docks at destination (time-consuming)
• Share-bikes are parked wherever people please (may lead to traffic congestions)
• The intention of different targets: e.x. “Dockless bike share in Seattle has an evening peak but no morning rush hour peak and trips are spread out over the day with the highest use seen on weekends, suggesting more recreational use.”
• The risk of bike accidents (bad navigation)
• Unclear payments: charges extra money & cheat system

Qualitative Research Discoveries

Interview Topic: Bike Sharing Rental
When: 3/5/2021
Where: Boson, MA
Who: NEU & BU Students & Residents

Persona

Problem

✦ Solution ✦

Bikable, a revised bike-sharing rental platform that provides -

• sturdy, durable and on-demand bikes allowing users to locate and use more easily and safely
• Personalization service for users to plan and save routes based on their own preferences
• Direction voice assistance in case users have to look at the phone and avoid risks of bike accidents
• An in-app payment so that all trips will be paid automatically in the app once the users return the bikes
• An in-app problem reporting with rewards encouraging users to maintain the bikes
• fitness & environmental sustainability tracker that 1)keeps tracking the user’s fitness (calories burned & time saved); 2) contribution for the environment (CO2 saved) based on users’ ride; 3) offers some rewards for each achievement in order to encourage more bike rides and keep a more healthy lifestyle; 4) solves the problem of high carbon dioxide emissions

Technology

Target Users

Generally, it’s targeted at both regular and occasional riders who care about the time, health, and environment. Specifically, it’s aimed to -

students/workers who usually ride to school and work to save money and time because of the traffic jam in rush time

Locals who don’t own a bike but do enjoying pedaling around on nice days or want to do an outside workout

visitors/tourists who prefer a flexible alternative to a car enabling them to visit a park or landmark with more freedom

Equipments

Beyond the Screen

Bikable incorporates AR navigation screen, voice assistance and a vehicle detector/cameras assembled on the back side of the bike, it will provide extra visual support and give the safe reminder while personalizing the routes based on users’ preferences.

Storyboard

Structure

Low-fi Prototype

Usability Testing + Key findings/Feedback

For Desktop

• When using a desktop, I wouldn’t click on “download the app” necessarily. Maybe create something to prompt me to go to my phone to download
• Provides more options for the route filters because there is more space on a desktop
• In addition to the bike pass price, showing the regular price (without a pass) and rewards in Pricing

Branding

Iterations

Mobile

Desktop

Responsive UI: Mobile

Onboarding

Signup

Siderbar

Find Bikes

Add Stops

Save Trips

Find Docks

Fitness & Sustainability Stats

Video Demo

Responsive UI: Desktop

Designing a responsive design for the bike-sharing platform can be challenging since bike-sharing service relys heavily on maps to show bike locations, suggested routes, and service areas. On desktops, integrating these maps effectively while maintaining readability and interactivity can be challenging, especially when trying to incorporate additional information like bike availability, weather conditions, or traffic.

Therefore, instead of replicating the mobile layout and features exactly, the desktop version offers content tailored to desktop users. It featured the similar functionalities as the mobile version but with detailed guidelines to the bike-sharing service, pricing, personalized routes, and operational guides. When it comes to using the map in real time, it will bring users to download the app.

Experience Prototype

Bikable x brands

Bikable will collaborate with the equipment brands such as headphones, helmets, coffee, fitness trackers to release the collection with bike ads to achieve commercial objectives and mutual benefits for consumers on both sides.