2. Solutions and System Elements

The Audience

Without a doubt, I'm looking to target the Department of Transportation within Kansas City and the local bicycle community. A design system like mine needs to act as an intermediary between them. So lets look at just what either sides needs are and later in the post, I'll include possible answers to this design challenge. First let's revisit the question.



The New Question
“Through design, how can I convey the bicyclist community’s needs for road safety and advocate them effectively and clearly to the Kansas City area?”


We've seen this question before, but after focusing on my audience, it appears that rather than communicating to the entire Kansas City area, I need concentrate my system on the bike community and the transportation department. So here's a revised question I'll work with for now. 


"Through design,  can I create a tool, using information generated by the Kansas City bike community, that can be legally used by the Department of Transportation to more effectively place and regulate bike lanes throughout the city."




System Elements

So with the new question in mind I’ve researched a list of different elements used within the road system. In my senior presentation last semester, I proposed an iphone application specific for the bicycle rider. I still believe that this is an essential element to a design system for the bike lane issue, but the design faculty discussed the many other options and systems already in place on the roads. The system should work with not only cyclists, but also the other drivers on the road. So I'll be broadening my horizons a bit moving forward with possible solutions.

So newer technologies should work with items like those below, rather than disregard them.·     Road signs


·      Street signs
·      Street lights
·      Traffic lights
·      Vehicle exteriors
·      Printed maps
·      Markings on the road
·      Bike lights and reflectors
·      Iphone application for riders
·      GPS units for vehicles
·      Online traffic advisories

Possible Solutions

So with these many formats in mind, there are many options for some interesting concepts. It's difficult to use the systems already in place unless the Department of Transportation would already have accepted and used the application. The system needs to have an officiality to it, a sense of establishment, but at the same time should still reflect the bicyclist subculture. After all, the application tool is acting as their voice to the city.

1.     Mobile Application and Beacons: This solution has been the most discussed so far, and makes smart phone a central device in the system. The application used by the cyclist would be started at the beginning of each ride or commute and then turned off once more at the end of the ride. The phone’s GPS functions would record where the rider would travel, and at any point in time, the application would visually show every rider’s route on a single map. This shows not only where and when bikes are being ridden around the city, but the density of the cyclists on these roads. Ultimately this could be used by the city to review in the road selection process for adding new bike lanes and paths. But for any cyclist that doesn't own a smartphone, a more affordable "beacon" could be purchased from the Department of Transportation. This beacon would be fairly small, and attached to the bike. It's small enough to be hidden underneath the bike seat, and is weatherproof. With a small battery, it sends the cyclists location to the application for all to see. The beacons can even be used to track down stolen bikes.      
2.     Roadside bike density lights: These lights could be installed by the city on the sides of roads around the city. This solution would only need the beacon. When a cyclist with a beacon passes by this light, the light counts that cyclist. Throughout the day as these numbers accumulate in the light, the light color will change much like a meter from possibly a cooler color like blue or green to a more intense and urgent color like red. By looking at these lights around the city, the Department of Transportation can see just which roads are in desperate need of bike lanes.
3.     Mapping Website: This solution would be an online community where cyclists could plot their route. Points could be added along the route as well to include notes considering safety issues or road difficulty. These maps could be shared individually between users and amassed like the application. By nature, this option would be a tool further evolved by the biking community, and used by cyclists more so than the Transportation Department. Routes could even include a time from point A to point B, better helping commuters plot their route to work or wherever they need to go. 
4.     Driver Operated GPS: This solution is a bit unique in that it would rely on outstanding drivers to map out bike locations. This would be a feature built in to most GPS units such as Garmin. As the driver drives around the city, if they pass a cyclist, they could simply tap the screen of the GPS or speak  a key phrase like "bike rider". The GPS would then log add the rider count to the road they are driving on, and Garmin as an example could have this information online and readily viewable in a format that the Department of Transportation could easily work with.
5.     Cards and Kiosks: In this solution the Department of Transportation would give out cards to bike riders. Small kiosks along the road, possibly found next to street signs or traffic lights, would have a collection been where riders could place their cards. These cards could then be picked up and represent numbers of cyclists on the roads. After the information is gathered in weekly periods,  the Transportation Department could redistribute them to new cyclists, promoting a green cycle. 

(beacon/ bike gps unit)

(roadsides are great places for the density lights)

(GPS units in vehicles can track bikes as well with the tap of a finger.)

I’ll continue in considering new concepts and further branching the smartphone technology with environmental systems. Next I plan to get in contact with the Kansas City Department of Transportation to learn the process they go through when considering and adding bike lanes to roads around the area. The application needs to be an official sort of document that the local government can take seriously and can legally use as a tool for public safety.