Ride Safe Venice
Academic Project
A contactless bike and scooter rental service in response to COVID-19 that allows users to seamlessly manage the rental process from start to finish.
🕚 Timeline
Sep - Dec 2020
👥 Team
Rachael Legge & Eduardo Paz
✨ Role
UX & UI Designer
Challenge 🎯
How might we create an interactive system that solves transportation & mobility issues in the post COVID-19 Los Angeles?
Problem❓
Bike rental shops in Venice Beach have been affected by the competition with E-transit companies & by the massive drops in transportation ridership due to COVID-19.
Insight 🤔
Users avoid bike rental shops because it involves face-to-face interaction and there is no guarantee of cleanliness.
Solution ✨
RideSafe provides a platform for renters to search for sanitized bikes & scooters in Venice Beach and complete the rental process easily through the app.
Challenge 🎯
How might we create an interactive system that solves transportation & mobility issues in the post COVID-19 Los Angeles?
Problem❓
Bike rental shops in Venice Beach have been affected by the competition with E-transit companies & by the massive drops in transportation ridership due to COVID-19.
Insight 🤔
Users avoid bike rental shops because it involves face-to-face interaction and there is no guarantee of cleanliness.
Solution ✨
RideSafe provides a platform for renters to search for sanitized bikes & scooters in Venice Beach and complete the rental process easily through the app.
How might we ensure a safe and seamless bike rental experience for users in Venice during COVID-19?
Design Considerations
Timeline
Observations
Insights
1.
Lower usage of bikes/scooters from rentals shops. Bike shop owners have had a drastic decrease in rentals due to the stay-at-home orders and loss of tourism.
2.
Sanitation of rental bikes. Bike shop owners are having difficulty ensuring customers of vehicle cleanliness and are losing revenue.
3.
Tough competition with E-transit companies. Rental bike shops are directly competing with dockless and docked micro-mobility companies that offer more flexibility for users.
Bike Shop Owners
“Last summer we saw a significant 40 percent drop on our rental business. The summer before that, we would run out of bikes on the weekends.”
“We try to power wash the bikes once a day & give them a quick wipe down alcohol in between ride. However, customers are still afraid that the bikes are not 100% clean.”
“Some people, rather than rent something from us, rent the scooters. We lost a lot of business because of it. With the other scooters, people have the advantage to drop them off anywhere they want.”
Insights
1.
A high number of bike and micro-mobility rental shops had closed down.
2.
Many visitors / locals did not follow social distancing regulations or wear a mask.
3.
Rental bikes were left outside unsupervised & didn’t look very clean or sanitary.
Rental Bike Shop Users
David
“When I ride bikes in Venice I avoid people without masks. Some people approach you and they don’t stay 6 feet apart, it’s frustrating.”
Leticia
“I used to rent bikes at the beach with my friends every other week but now I’m scared because Venice Beach gets so overcrowded”
Ryan
“I use shared devices less often in Venice because I’m unsure of their cleanliness, I always use hand sanitizer to feel safe”.
Insights
1.
Lower usage of bikes/scooters from rentals shops. Users avoid bike rental shops because it involves face-to-face interaction.
2.
Sanitation of rental bikes. Users avoid renting bikes because there is no guarantee of cleanliness.
3.
Social distancing & crowding. Users avoid renting bikes from rental shops in Venice because they fear that the Boardwalk might get overcrowded.
100% of our users opted for dockless vehicles
When interviewing we asked users what their preferred method of micro-mobility post-COVID-19. We found that 100% of our users opted for dockless vehicles over docked and renting from local shops.
Users Current Experience
User Needs
Shop Owners Needs
-
A platform to make the rental process as quick and easy as E-transit competitors, such as Bird & Lime Scooters.
-
Support for his small business to attract more customers and increase bike rentals.
-
A simple, easy way to share the bike shop’s COVID-19 precautions with customers.
Riders Needs
-
To be reassured that rental shops are following covid-19 regulations and bikes are sanitary.
-
Contactless bike rental pickups to limit face-to-face contact.
-
A way to schedule bike rental in advance to avoid crowds and busy hours on the Boardwalk.
Paper Prototype
After mapping out the user flow we then created a low fidelity paper prototype. This allowed us to quickly ideate our onboarding process and understand the steps our users would need to take before building a high-fidelity prototype.
User Flow
When creating this user flow we looked at the user’s current journey map to see how we could make the onboarding and rental process simpler. We considered the steps needed for the user to make a completely contactless pick-up to limit interaction.
User’s journey with RideSafe
We created a map of user’s journey using the RideSafe Venice app. After gathering feedback, we decided to add our storyboard to our journey map to give our stakeholders a better visualization of the user journey during the final presentation.
Vision Video Storyboard
Once we finished our final prototype it was important for us to understand how the user’s journey had improved. We created quick storyboards for our app Vision Video. These storyboards helped us brainstorm scenes and develop a dialog for our Vision Video.
Speedy Rental Process
Users can simply scan their id, set up their payment, and review terms and conditions.
Final Prototype
Supports Small Local Businesses
RideSafe allows users to search local rental shops, check out rental shops' contact info and pricing, leave reviews.
Sanitized & Safe
RideSafe shares the sanitization process and precautions each bike shop is taking to ensure users’ safety.
Customized, Contactless Pick ups
Users can set up their seat and vehicle adjustments and schedule completely contactless pickups through the app.
The most valuable takeaway I learned from doing this project was to be more aware of the primary audience that I am designing for. After our final presentation, we got feedback from the stakeholders. The stakeholders wanted to see more of the bike shop owners’ journey with RideSafe. They wished to see how the app would look for bike shop owners & their user journey using the app.
Further down the line, I would like to explore & design the app for the bike shop owner. I feel it would be beneficial to prototype a user interface geared towards them as it would allow us to conduct user-testing. This would enable us to see how feasible the platform would be in reality. Other future considerations include subscriptions for frequent renters, promotions, & rewards on rentals.
It was challenging at times with the pandemic. This was my first remote project & it was a whole new learning experience where I had to adapt my creative design thinking. We learned how to collaborate remotely & meet each other’s schedules. I really had a wonderful experience collaborating & learning from my fellow team member. Also, I appreciated being a part of a design solution that supported small businesses in times of need.
Reflections
Insights
1.
Customers have to browse the Boardwalk until they find available bikes to rent.
2.
The lengthy process and amount of face-to-face interaction it takes to rent a bike may make customers feel uneasy.
3.
Returning the bike was easy because the rental was paid for in advance.
Your mobility system must be site-specific. Pick a site such as the Santa Monica Promenade, Downtown Culver City, Downtown Los Angeles, Highland Park, etc.
The project must include these technical features, such as a screen-based interaction (website, app, kiosk, device, wearable, etc).
Design research involves field research, observation, and interviewing the public that use the chosen site to determine possible transportation and mobility issues.