Motivate + NYC Citi Bike

 

EXPANDING MICROMOBILITY through dockless bike share

 
 

Motivate operates the largest fleet of docked bikes in the world. A docked bike system requires the user to rent and return the bike to designated dock locations. However, in 2018 we launched Motivate’s first dockless bike pilot in San Jose with fast follows in New York and Minneapolis. A user could simply tap their phone to the fender of the bike to unlock and ride, then push the bike’s rear wheel lock secure to end their ride.

 

Project: Dockless Bike Share Experience

Role: Interaction Design, UX, User Research

Year: 2018

 
dockless_unlock_02.png
 
 
 
 

MAPPING THE JOURNEY

 
 
 

The golden path consisted of a user finding a bike through the app, unlocking, riding, locking and parking. This was then used to understand when the bike needed to communicate to the phone as well as the server and identify all potential error states.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

HARDWARE USER TESTING

 
 
 

Our hardware team had begun the design of a custom smart lock that would attach to the rear fender. This was a new experience for our users that consisted of specific steps to successfully unlock and lock. To quickly gain feedback, I programed an Arduino to display a sequence of blinking LEDs, which we then tested with a handful of users. In the end, we decided on an off the shelf lock solution for the pilot due to cost.

 
 
 
 
Proto_Testing.png
 
 
 

INTERACTION USER TESTING

 
 
 

Through a set of research activities and prototypes, I tested users unlocking bikes with QR codes and NFC tags as well as preferred locations on the bike. The majority of users found the QR code experience faster and more intuitive than NFC tags. Even though senior leadership decided to proceed with NFC tags for the pilot, QR codes were eventually seen as superior after the pilot.

 
 
 
 
 

UI DESIGN

 
 
 
 
 
 

The experience needed to be extremely quick and intuitive - tap unlock button, tap phone to NFC tag and start riding.

 
 
 
 

Users with phones without NFC capabilities needed a way to unlock as well - tap keyboard button, enter bike number and start riding.

 
 
 
 

IMPACT & KEY RESULTS

 
 
 

There were a lot of learnings gained from the pilots in San Jose, New York and Minneapolis. Ridership numbers and brand awareness dramatically increased. This work acted as the foundation for our dockless ebikes, that are in the thousands in multiple cities as of 2020.