Initial concept and development phase of Iowa State University's (ISU) bike share system. The system is designed for the students, by the students of ISU. The concept will be developed further and implemented for the campus population in 2017.
Our team developed hundreds of sketches and system design concepts.
Six of eight early scaled models produced to determine the design of the bike frame.
The team constructed a geometry model of the bike to understand the overall sizing and usability of the bike's structure before building a finalized version. We then asked people of all sizes to try out the geometry model to see if the sizing was right for the majority of them.
Construction of the appearance model. High density foam, MDF, acrylic, FDM printed parts, and stock bike parts were used to build the appearance model prototype.
Each unit is built with a belt drive system, 2-speed automatic hubs and dynamos, which power internal electronics and exterior safety lights.
Each and every ISU student has free, simple access to the bike share system. Being designed around the student, the system piggybacks off of the current student ID system setup at ISU. ISU IDs are needed everywhere on campus, and students carry them with them daily. This creates the perfect platform for tap and go usability.
The bike share system was titled Fifty8, paying homage to Iowa State University's starting year -- 1858. It represents Iowa State's rich technological and scientific history, while looking ahead towards the future. The visual language of the system subtly follows this ode to ISU's history and future.
The Fifty8 app works alongside the bike share system. It adds notification, redistribution, and wayfinding capabilities to the overall system design. A simple dock overview shows users which docks have available bikes. A jobs board allows users to act as bike jockies, redistributing bikes in exchange for laundry money. The app is gamified by visualizing rider stats and adding an experience point/reward system. This gamification keeps users coming back to the system daily.
To garner more first adopters of the bike share system, an element of rarity was added to the system design. There are three categories of bikes within the overall system. The first are common bikes, which are white and silver bikes that make up roughly 90% of the units. Rare bikes are colored versions of the white units found in either cardinal red or gold. The addition of color adds a special feel to the bikes that users would be attracted to. Finally, an additional, very rare sub-set of bikes would be added, which would be called legendary bikes. Legendary bikes are special, one-off bike designs that work with the system. Each legendary bike would be donated by a graduating class as a class gift. Who wouldn't rent out the campus's one "Random Tandem" if it were available?
Anti-Collision Warning System - warns riders of oncoming bikes using compounded inaudible sounds to create an audible warning tone.
Gamification of System - concept that allows users to top off their remaining allowed usage time by driving over designated "power up" zones.
We compared the bike share system to the current bus system in order to justify the price of implementing the bike share system.
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