Author Archives: Carrie Stiens

Bike Sharing for NYC

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Bike sharing is coming to the Big Apple, and New Yorkers are excited! This is not completely fresh news, but is still very exciting. The other weekend, Kristin and I went to check out the system. Alta, the company that will be installing and managing the bike share, and the New York Department of Transportation were hosting a live demo on Atlantic street. For less than $100, you can become a member and use the shared bikes at no charge all year around. Ride times will be limited to 30-45 minutes to encourage short commutes rather than using the bike to the explore the city all day. The city aims to co-exist with the thriving bike rental businesses that are currently in New York, rather than overriding them. In my opinion, the system seems quite impressive. It’s been rolled out in multiple cities including Boston, DC and Melbourne, and for the most part has been a success.

But, we had two main questions. What about the helmets? And, what are you doing to help guide people that don’t normally bike around the city? Our reason for asking these questions is because we’re exploring a helmet as the physical interface with a digital bike companion. With that, one of our main intentions is to help people better discover the cities in which they live via bike.

Because New York does not mandate bicycle helmets, the bike share system will not require riders to wear them. Though, they may offer some kind of discount to help people purchase their own helmets. As for helping riders find their way around the city, each docking station will have a cycling map posted.

Undoubtedly, potential lies in considering a product that can be used by bike sharers (New Yorkers and tourists) and regular commuters alike. There is yet to come a good solution for helmets and guiding discovery within the current bike share systems.

User Interview Questions

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Bike Type
What do you use your bike for? (commute, to wander, get around the neighborhood)

Wayfinding
What apps, maps or other tools do you use to get around NYC on a bike?
Do you usually know where you are going?
In the times you don’t know how to get to your destination, what do you do?
What does this lead to? How does it make you feel?

Tracking
What things in your life to you track (or keep track of consistently)?
What do you like tracking these things?
What do you track in regards to your biking trips?
How relevant are the stats? What do they tell you?
How consistently do you track?
If you’ve stopped, for how long did you track?
Why did you stop?

Places
Where do you get your morning coffee? Is it always the same place?
How often do you try new places that you stumble upon (that you pass by)?
What tools do you use to find places?
What do you like about that tool?
Do you ever go to places because someone you know has checked in there?
How frequently to do write reviews about the places you go to?
What are 3-5 keywords that describe the places you go (or usually seek out)?
How do you find out about events and concerts happening in New York? What kind of events do you usually seek out?

Habits and Motivation
What other physical activities do you do?
Why and what motivates you to do it when you have excuses not to (lazy, tired, busy, no time, weather)?
When do you not bike?
What motivates or gets you to bike?
When do you not bike? (rain, cold weather)
How often do you bike?
How often do you put air in your tires?

Friends/Group Riding
Do you usually ride alone or with friends?
Are you friends’ bikers or are you the only one?
How does this affect how often and where you bike?
How do you advocate biking to your friends? How important is this to you?

Helmet
When do you wear a helmet?
What style is it?
Do you ever just carry it around on your back?

Bike Infrastructure/System
Where do you park your bike at home? At work?
How important is it to be able to shower after your ride to work?
Do you have access to a shower at work?

Bike Community and Advocacy
Which bike initiatives are you involved in (if any)?
Which petitions have you signed?
How engaged are you in the bike community? What events and activities do you participate in?
How do you report bad road conditions?

Safety (secondary)
Do you follow the rules of the road?
Do you ride the wrong way down one-way streets?

About the Project, v.1

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Our project addresses the needs of urban pedalers. New Yorkers bike in chaotic environments. We want to make riders’ trips more seamless while giving them tools to delightfully experience and discover New York from their bike seat and with friends. We’re making a digital toolset embodied in a physical bike helmet. It will provide spoken directions, track riding habits and help riders document trips and arrange rides with friends. Unlike a high-tech GPS bike computer, it will have a charming personality and be designed for the casual and committed commuters.

An endeavor that is part of the SVA IxD thesis program, we hope to create your bike’s better half.

Process Plan

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Concept
- create a journey map
- refine concepts from the journey map

Hardware
- create a hardware sketch
- reach out to experts
- start mvp with wires

Prototyping
- create one route for people to try
- write the script (determine elements/concepts that we include)
- rehearse
- plan to document
- get webcam(s)

Bike Community
- reach out to bike community

Contextual Research
- contextual research
- identify user research areas and goals

Software
- tbd

Blog
- visual design

Grind Brain Dump

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- give people the music playing at local venues that week
- pin locations with a button
- sensor to start tracking in the helmet
- buttons connected to helmet also
- allow people to hook-up whichever audio service they want
- “shut up” or “please repeat” feedback from the rider in buttons, voice commands or force sensors (ie. hitting the helmet)

**high on Intelligentsia pour-over coffee

Let’s make bike friends

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Kristin and I are now official members of the NYC Bike Tech Meetup and avid followers of the Brooklyn By Bike blog. On Tuesday, October 4th we will be competing for $50 at Red Latern Bicycles by attempting to make clever and original reviews of various bike-related cafes and restaurants on Google Places. And, on Sunday, October 9th, you can find us at Grand Army Plaza beginning the El Tour de Taco.

UPDATE:

RED LANTERN BICYCLES Oct. 4th

TOUR DE TACO Oct. 9th

Yes, me made friends!

Advice from Open Plans

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As I mentioned in the previous post, the MVP itself has its complexities. Here is the run-down of the layers involved for the mapping software.

1. Map tiles (provided by Open Layers, Poly Layers, Google)
2. Routing services (Open Trip Planner, NavIt, Google)
3. NYC bike network (found on the nyc.gov GIS file)
4. Software for to convert turn-by-turn directions to audio and re-route
5. GPS tracking

Other notes from meeting at Open Plans:
Connect with the bike nerd community: Get biking software developers together to lead a discussion and work session for how the thing can be developed. Check out Bike NYC Tech meet-up.

Note: We need to draw the line between what we will program and what we will get help with.

Research: apps and open-source software for turn-by-turn directions and routing, geo-fencing, place-based audio tools, Rodify, Ways, Filter Bubble (book), Android extension kit

Connect with Transportation Alternatives, Ride the City, and NYC Bike Tech meetup