2020

Bike Commuter Research

uncovering the barriers with commuting by bicycle

ethnographic research
Georgia institute of technology

01

research introduction

Our team surveyed communities of students, cyclists, non-bikers and bike commuters to uncover barriers that  prevent a person from commuting to work by bike and whether there is a perceived “stigma” around biking.

We found patterns in responses and formed typologies based on different motivations and barriers that keep each group from making a bicycle their transportation mode of choice.

Team Members: Berri Berto, Rebekah Hilton, Rachel Hu & Amelia Keller

02

research method & analysis

survey participants
We surveyed communities of students, cyclists, non-bikers, and bike commuters to find out what is preventing people from commuting to work by bike and whether there is a perceived “stigma” around biking.

survey flow

03

forming insights

sorting through sticky notes
We took open ended answers and sorted them on sticky notes to form typologies and find recurring themes in barriers and stigmas surrounding a bike commute.

04

commuter personas

8 key personas
With the research data, we formed 8 typologies based on what motivates each persona to ride a bike or other mode of transportation. Each persona contains a description, motivations ranked in order of importance, key insights, and direct quotes from our participants.

05

mapping personas to barriers

uncovering design opportunities
We hung all personas and barriers and used black string to visualize how personas overlap and which user groups have multiple, actionable barriers to entry.

Our goal was to uncover a group of users that would benefit most from a bicycle design intervention.

06

research implementation

a bicycle for business professionals
The Business Professional group offered a unique challenge for a bicycle design because many of those who enjoyed riding their bike to work were deterred by the perspectives of others.

My team used this research to drive the design of a bicycle concept – view The Bike Launch Experience project.