Seattle Bike Commuting, IDEO

The challenge

Insights for Innovation is focused on a key slice of the user research process - turning research data into actionable findings. 

I worked with this challenge:

"How might we improve the commuting experience for people on public transportation in your area?"

Throughout the several weeks of the workshop, instructors guided participants through observation, interviewing, and empathy exercises.

Based on those exercises, I ran a study, facilitated a one-on-one interview, and picked up my own bike to plan a commute.

Preliminary research

"Find examples of work that has already been done" 

From the news, articles like, 

Notice local bus stop has closed? Blame the pandemic

Seattle area buses are crowded with essential workers. Drivers feel vulnerable

And public service documentation like,

King County Metro covid guidelines

The most instructive research came in the form of a radio story (which might have foreshadowed the importance of the individual voice of the commuter in this problem),

Downtown Seattle commuters face tough choices every morning. Inside one Seattle commuter's daily decision

Situating the challenge in early-covid Seattle, the scope of the research narrowed to bike commuting specifically. Biking at the time was experiencing a weird sort of boom because of its covid-safety compared to other modes of public transit - call it "cruising with a breeze" versus "crammed into a bus." 

One-on-one interviewing

"Conduct a video call interview"

I interviewed someone here in the city who doesn't drive - it limits her transit options, but also makes her a sort of expert on all things public/mass transit. 

She's very thoughtful, and I felt like we were having a give and take conversation - she noticed the things I noticed and would give them a second look, and in the same way, I noticed the moments she thought deeply about something, and followed up. 

For example, she mentioned the commute being a transition period between home and work - I suggested something about how that transition isn't necessarily a perfect gray area between the two, and then we started talking about different kinds of stimulation. 

Later, she mentioned her bike was a hand-me-down and noticed that I perked up, thinking about the family ties, and we ended up talking about longevity and her relationship to her mother. 

I'm sure these were things that wouldn't have come up without the dialog between us. I had a difficult time lessening my presence, probably because I was enjoying the conversation. I'm thankful that it was a zoom call and not a phone call, because using facial expressions made it a little easier to hold myself back from saying things like, "I have had that experience too!" or "I've always thought it was this way instead!" - I'm learning to prioritize my engagement instead of involvement, respond with suggestions instead of statements, and leave more space than I would normally.

The main take-away from this interviewing experience was that as interviewer, I'm able to set context and rapport, without leading. 

Empathy exercise

"Plan a bike commute downtown"

 So I went to bed thinking, "okay, tomorrow morning I'll do all the things I need to do to plan a bike commute. I'll pick a route, probably check google maps, bring a set of clothes to change into..." and all that, as a way to sort of test myself - how much have I learned from observing and interviewing, and how much can continue forward.

But as I was going to sleep, I started thinking about all the things that would make it difficult, things that were out of my control - it had just snowed pretty heavily and I'm inexperienced biking in snowy conditions, I've only just recently recovered from a sprain and wasn't sure I would be up for a big ride, especially in the early morning, since I haven't been riding much I'd have to do a maintenance check on the bike... 

And then I realized...

This is the feeling, the night before a commute!

I hadn't worked yet with anyone who was considering bike commuting, but hadn't yet - I had only spoken with / observed people who were already bike commuters. And eventually, that "anxiety the night before" started to feel like radically important part of the decision to commute by bike. 

I think one of the driving forces behind the question of "bike commuting" is, "how do we encourage bike commuting" - it's clearly a good response to the pandemic, and there are tons of other safety benefits. But making the shift to biking for the first time is actually a unique and difficult position, one I hadn't thought about directly yet in this project. I had geared my research toward supporting bike commuting, as it had proved to be an interesting solution to public transit problems in covid (overcrowded buses for example). I was interacting with bike commuters, looking for ways to support them. But here, I set out to actually plan a bike commute - for me - and all these new factors show up, personal things, excuses not to bike. 

These are the hidden anxieties that are probably holding lots of people back, people that had been stuck in my peripheral vision.

The findings

The deliverables are single-sentence insights. Distilled from trends and stories pulled from the research, insights are succinct and shareable... what IDEO calls "fuel for innovation"!

Next steps could certainly include some work with the city, maybe especially on environmental noise control and bike paths. 

That's work that I'm definitely curious about.

Insight 1

"Bikes are a responsibility that falls on the individual"

During the pandemic, some commuters are choosing individual forms of transit as a matter of safety. 

But each mode comes with its own share of anxieties - owning a bike, for example, also means planning a route, keeping an eye on bike maintenance, preparing for diverse weather conditions, and maintaining physical endurance. 

For a new bike commuter, especially one used to reading a book on the bus, the transition from home to work can become more physical than mental - it might wake the commuter up, kick them into gear, get their heart pumping. 

Upon arriving to work, yet another anxiety presents itself - the bike commuter is sweatier than their colleagues, and carries their form of transit into work. This adds still more responsibilities on the biker to freshen up, store their bike, and, for the sweatier bikers, maybe even change clothes.

Insight 2

"Busy streets leave bike commuters on the side of the road"

Most bike paths in Seattle are connected to roads that are already heavily used by cars. The few examples of dedicated bike paths (one is pictured, where a path diverges from a street) are spaces where bikers can feel safer. That feeling of safety is especially important in crucial moments like when a tire blows or brakes fail.

The experience of biking on a side street can also be illustrated in sound. 

As part of the deliverables for this project, I included two audio clips - the first was recorded from a street-side bike lane, and the second was recorded only one block away. The difference in volume speaks to how even a small separation (here, the width of one block) can have a significant impact on a bikers sense of well-being.