ANLY482 AY2017-18 T2 Group 31 Project Overview
Sponsor Background
Bike Sharing Company - The Future of Transportation
Our sponsor is Singapore's first homegrown stationless smart bikesharing company which uses technology to change how transportation is viewed locally. It allows commuters to travel during one-way first and last mile commuting – via bicycles located all over the island.
Our sponsor is launched in Singapore in February 2017 and has since expanded to 24 other countries: Taiwan, Korea, Malaysia, Australia, Thailand, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Sweden.
Our sponsor's aim is to provide a convenient and environmentally friendly commute option for all, especially given Singapore’s compact size and interconnected urban areas.
The bikes have a built-in Bluetooth lock and can therefore be left anywhere at the end of a journey, not just at a docking station. Users use a smartphone app to locate and hire bikes. Once users finish their ride, they need to manually lock and leave the bike in any parking spot to be ready for the next user. At the time of locking the bike the user must again ensure they have a Bluetooth and an internet connection, in order for the our sponsor system to record the end of the ride and correctly calculate the hire charge.
As of the month of September, 2017, our sponsor has achieved more than 1 million downloads since its inception, far surpassing its competitors. According to third-party data agency, App Annie, it shows that the total number of app downloads from our sponsor's app has consistently been at the top, a strong showing from the SEA bike-sharing leader.
Project Objectives
1. To determine the locations with high number of indiscriminate parkings in Singapore
2. To investigate possible causes that resulted in these popular indiscriminate parking locations
Sponsor Motivation
As the use of smart bike sharing becomes more prevalent, the number of indiscriminate parking is on the uprise too. Our sponsor has received numerous tickets from Land Transport Authority (LTA), Town Council and NParks regarding bike users not parking within the marked out yellow box. For each bike that is not re-located within 4 hours from the time of ticket reported, a fine of $500 is imposed. In addition, our sponsor also suffers damage to its reputation and relationships with the regulatory authorities. Currently, our sponsor gets an average of 300 tickets every day, and they would like to seek for solutions to minimise the number of indiscriminate parking reported.
Our Motivation
Bike sharing is an initiative that has been recently launched in Singapore. As bike enthusiasts, we are hoping to find ways to improve the existing system by garnering insights, so as to further encourage more people to ride. Our sponsor is also a local start-up which we wish to support.
