Launching a shared-bike service in a city you know: riders, journey and operations

Design a bike-sharing service for the city you live in or know best. Decide which riders it serves first, how they find, ride and return bikes, and how you would tell whether it is working. ```hint Start from the trips After naming the city, list the short trips people there make by car, bus or on foot that a bike could replace, and ask what stops them from cycling those trips today. ``` ### Clarifying Questions - Who are we: the city's transport department, a private operator under a city contract, or a company adding bike-share to an existing product such as a maps app? - Is the main goal a public one, such as fewer car trips and better access to transit, or does the service need to cover its own costs? - Is the fleet design open (docked stations, dockless bikes or a mix), and are electric bikes in scope? - Does the city already have a bike-share or scooter service that we would replace or compete with? ### What a Strong Answer Covers - A described city with its geography and travel patterns, and a chosen first rider segment compared against the alternatives - The full rider journey (find, unlock, ride, park, pay) and where it fails today in this city - The operating model behind the app: fleet and parking design, rebalancing and maintenance, pricing and funding - Success metrics with guardrails - Risks of shared bikes in public space, such as safety, theft and vandalism, street clutter and fair coverage across neighborhoods ### Follow-up Questions - Three months after launch, downtown stations are full every morning while stations in residential areas are empty. What do you change in the product and in operations? - How would you extend coverage to lower-income neighborhoods, and how would you show it was worth the cost? - What would you need from the transit agency to make bike-share part of a transit trip, and what would you offer in return?