BikeSafety
Secure your bike when you’re away
Situation
Generally when people are on holiday they used to park their bike in some parking area but that is still not safe and chances are bike might be get stolen. And sometimes users forget the exact location of their parked bike.
So, Goal is to design an experience to help the user locate their locked bike and be informed if it moves. The experience should also help in preventing their parked bike and other vehicles they own from being stolen while they go on a holiday.
Research
There are exclusive expert teams all over the world which specialises the act of stealing motorcycles.
There are many reasons for bikes to be stolen. “Any stolen vehicle is abandoned, sold or used for crimes later. In seventy five per cent of crimes, bikes are used as getaways by criminals. For example, recently in all the chain snatching incidents and loots, thieves used bikes for the purpose,” said a senior city police official.
This data clearly shows thefts of bicycles are way more than compared to other vehicles. Bicycles are easy to unlock or even thief can carry it on their shoulders. However the data is old but this is enough to tell you the gist of the story.
On the other hand another image shows how bike theft is increasing, the data is from 2011–2014, Poland.
Some facts on bike theft:
- The rate of bike theft is almost twice the rate of car theft.
- More or less half of the motorists have the habit of not locking their bikes.
- Out of the total bikes stolen, hardly 26% is recovered.
- As much as 60% of the bikes are dismantled into parts and are sold.
- Believe me or not, a professional thief can steal a bike in less than just 15 seconds and it is a fact.
Persona
About
Phoenix is a 30 year old gym fitness trainer from NYC who likes to stay fit and motivates people to focus on their health. This is why he does not use any motor vehicles, he has his own bike which he uses all the time even for the office and nearby works.
Goal
Protect his bike from thieves.
Get real time alert of his bike.
Frustrations
Last year his bike got stolen from his office area
He has one leg in office and another at bike.
He can’t be away from his bike for long time or keep bike away from sight.
About
Steven is a 21 year old pursuing graduation from a college in NYC, he used to go to his college by his bike. He come’s from a middle class family and can not afford a new bike if he loses it. He parks his bike inside the college campus but whenever he goes out sometimes he forgets the location of the bike and afraid of theft.
Goal
Know the location of his bike whenever he parks anywhere.
Get real time alert of his bike
Frustrations
In college parking most of the time he lost the location of the bike and reaches home little late.
Many friends ask for his bike and he can’t refuse them, but he wants to see his real time location of the bike so that he can be stress free.
Facts
This data shows that 47% bike stolen from non-residential areas but 53% stolen from college apartments and residence halls where people are always present. This means that thrives are so intelligent that they clean this mess in middle of the market and nobody will notice it.
How Might We?
The How Might We question basically opens up the exploration space to a range of possibilities. It’s a bunch of questions frames that basically related to POV (Point of View) & helps to uncover the solution through a deeper interrogation of the problem in your research phase.
Instead of sticking to an idea or solutions HMV opens up many doors for the best solutions of a problem.
Example:
- ‘How Might We’ get notified if somebody is touching the bike or trying to steal?
- HMW find the safe area to park our bikes?
- HMW set the alarm if bike is nearby hospitals or some peaceful area?
- HMW understand the touch is not anonymous?
- HMW able to control the volume of the alarm and how long it will continue to beep?
Solution (Example 1):
‘How Might We’ get notified if somebody is touching the bike or trying to steal?
To secure your bike more effectively against thieves, your smartphone can be a reliable companion. Bike apps are little helpers for everyday life that you install on your smartphone. This allows you to monitor all kinds of different metrics that give you more security and confidence. The bandwidth has now become very extensive. Apps instantly alert you with a push message on your smartphone when someone tries to steal your bike and trigger the alarm. This gives you the necessary security, even if you do not have your bike in sight.
In combination with an alarm system, you will receive an alarm message directly to your smartphone if theft is attempted. With a bike app that controls the alarm, you can directly deactivate the triggered alarm, for example, if it is a false alarm. Depending on the app provider, it is possible to set the sensitivity at which the alarm will be triggered. In a restless environment, e.g. at the supermarket, it makes sense not to raise the alarm to the highest level of sensitivity. Most of these bike racks are heavily used and there may be unintentional bumps on your bike. In addition, there is often the option of a “silent alarm” that notifies you by push message but does not trigger a loud alarm on the spot.
Current User Journey
Storyboards
This storyboard tells the story of how the persona, uses this app when have a flight booked. This app will remind the user by alarm to leave for the airport on time.
Sketches
If there is an accidental impact on your bike, GPS will respond with a three-time warning sound — the pre-alarm. If further shocks or a theft attempt, then an alarm with 110 dB volume is triggered.
Screens
