James Quinlan
I do UX with data
Citi Bike image hero.png

UX - Citi Bike

UX - Citi Bike (U.S.A.)

 

Designing for a service so popular, it’s losing money

Citi Bike is a self-funding bike sharing service, however while the bicycles had become a visible fixture in NYC, the program faced viability issues unless it could appeal to more casual users (who are more profitable than members). With this in mind, this project was a redesign of the mobile Citi Bike site.

 
 

1. The Problem Statement

Citi Bike is a bike sharing (as opposed to a bike hire) service that operates in NYC. Importantly this service receives no public money and is entirely reliant for its funding via a mix of sponsorship money and revenue generated by users.

While the bicycles have become a highly visible fixture across the city, the program faced economic challenges unless it could appeal to more tourists (who, as one off users of the system, generate far more revenue on a pro-rata basis than do Annual Members) and expand its service to new neighbourhoods. 

Prompted by the need to increase the number of casual / new users of the system, this project was a redesign of the mobile version of the Citi Bike website (www.citibikenyc.com), see the image to the right.

The redesign of the current version of the Citi Bike website needed to to appeal to two key groups of users:

  1. Annual Members (those who have signed up for a flat-fee one year membership of the Citi Bike)

  2. Casual Users – those who only use the service periodically or are new to the system (including tourists)

 
Citi Bike orig home page.png
 

2. The Research

The user research process used three separate inputs to learn how and why people use the Citi Bike program and, equally as important, what prevents others from using it. Research included user interviews, social listening and analysis of Citi Bike app reviews.

 

Not wanting to rely upon a single data source, I used a range of qual and quant techniques with a strong focus on collecting and analysing text data from online sources.

Once I had collected all of my data, I analysed it across a number of fields, dividing my finders between Annual Members and the casual / new users.

Once I had collected all of my data, I analysed it across a number of fields, dividing my finders between Annual Members and the casual / new users.

 

3. The User Personas

Based upon user reviews and the business objective, two distinct personas were created to represent Citi Bike’s annual members and its casual users. So let’s meet the Consistent Commuter and the Day Tripper Cyclist (or, as their mums would be more likely to call them, David and Barth):

Consistent Commuter.png

So, two personas with very different needs. Now to design one app to serve them both.

 

4. The User Flows

User flows were created for the two personas, mapping out their distinct needs. This phase of the project revealed a number of opportunities to lose those unfamiliar with the Citi Bike program to other forms of transport – addressing this is vital to the key marketing objective of attracting more casual / new users to the program.

User Flow clear.png
 

5. The Content Strategy

Content needs for the two personas were determined and overlaid to find common ground.

The map indicated key differences in content needs: Day Tripper Cyclists have increased needs for system education while Consistent Commuters rely on Citi Bike for the commute to work, meaning that both predictability and reliability are vital to them.

Day Tripper Cyclists have increased needs for system education.

Consistent Commuters rely on Citi Bike for the commute to work, meaning that both predictability and reliability are vital to them.

 

6. The Site Map

Now that I knew what the product stood for, I could start to design how it would function. But rather than designing screens, I started with a service blueprint:

Site Map.png
 

7. The Wireframes

Two screens.png
Annual Members.png
Casual Users 1.png
Casual Users 2.png
 

8. The Additional Idea - A Docking Station WiFi Hotspot

While capital expenditure on Citi Bike hardware is beyond the current project statement, it is recommended that equipping docking stations with free Wi-Fi systems be investigated, especially to increase engagement by Day Tripper Cyclists (especially tourists who lack a U.S. cellular data plan for their device) with the program.