Evaluation

Outline

12/21/18 - Finish entire project

For my final 3 ideas, I chose a shared transportation subscription service, solar-powered shared scooters, and a ride-share app. I chose to survey my friends and family as they are diverse in their socio-economic status as well as their age group. There was a total of 18 people who completed the survey.

Idea 1: The shared transportation subscription is a service that provides subscribers with unlimited access to certain methods of shared transportation (like scooters, bikes, and busses) for a monthly fee. Half of the people who were surveyed said that they would buy a shared transportation subscription, while the plurality said that they would pay between $10 and $20 per month for the subscription.

Idea 2: The solar-powered shared scooter works the same as Bird scooters and Lime scooters; however, it is solar powered. This eliminates the need for people to be paid to charge them in their house overnight, and boosts their sustainability rating. Over half of the people who were surveyed responded by saying that they would support/use a service for a solar-powered shared scooter. Half of the people surveyed said that they would pay between $4 and $8 dollars per hour to use one of these scooters. For reference, Bird and Lime scooters cost $9 per hour. The responders of the survey may have not known this, or thought that it was more fair to charge less money for an hour of use because there is no need for the company to pay people to charge the scooters for them.

Idea 3: The ride-share app is a smartphone app that connects drivers with people who are headed in the same direction as them so that they can carpool, only the driver gets paid. This app would be used less like a business or a job, and more like a social media platform. I received mixed results with this survey. The marginal plurality were uncertain as to wether or not they would buy this app; however, the same amount of people said they would and would not buy a ride-share app. The majority of those surveyed said that they would pay between $0 and $2 for the app. This is expected, as it would most likely be a free app to download.

Idea 1: Shared Transportation Subscription

This benchmark 2x2 was difficult to find products to compare to. I ultimately found 3 things to compare it to: Metro Transit Go To pass, Uber Ride Pass, and Lyft All-Access Plan. The Metro Transit Go To pass is a card used for the Metro Transit bus system in the Twin Cities. It provides users discounted bus rates and is reloadable. The Uber Ride Pass offers users static ride costs for $14.99 a month. Uber’s price changes a lot due to “surges”, and this product gives users price protection against that. The Lyft All-Access Plan is a $299 monthly subscription that gives subscribers 30 ‘free’ Lyft rides.

I could not find any patents surrounding shared transportation subscriptions. The closest thing I could find was a patent detailing a way to subsidize public shared transportation through electronic coupons. I believe my idea of a shared transportation subscription is patentable, as there is nothing similar patented.

Idea 2: Solar Powered Shared Scooter

For this 2x2 benchmark, I used a variety of existing shared transportation methods as well as unshared methods that are simliar to their shared transportation counterpart. I used road bikes, mountain bikes, manual scooters, rollerblades, Nicerides, Lime scooters, and Bird scooters.

This idea is not patentable. There are a few patents regarding a solar powered scooter; however none of them detail any shared transportation aspect. The most notable and recent patent is a scooter where the solar panels are inside the platform where the users plants their feet as they ride it. The panels fold out to reveal the solar technology.

Idea 3: Ride-share App

For the ride-share app, I used apps where people may initiate usage of shared transportation or look for shared transportation. Uber, Lime, Bird, and Lyft are apps in which shared transportation can be initiated. Facebook and the Metro Transit are apps in which users can try to locate shared transportation. I included Facebook because there are many groups for different communities to search for rides, as well as the ability to reach people you know with a single post.

The ride-share app is possibly patentable. I found only a couple patents detailing and app/service for ride sharing, and most of them seem to function in a simliar method to uber. The most notable is the most similar patent to my idea; however, it seems to be more similar to and Uber/Lyft type of business. My idea is more along the lines of a social media platform.

Idea 1: The shared transportation subscription would most likely be feasible. The most difficult aspect of this product would be pricing it so that it would be both popular and affordable, while still turning some sort of profit. Additionally, there would most likely need to be partnerships between companies like Lime, Bird, Niceride, and the Metro Transit to make this subscription possible. The aforementioned products are all available on a regional basis, so there would have to be partnerships with various different companies.

Idea 2: The solar-powered shared scooter would be possible technologically, but it may not be legally feasible. If it is possible to circumvent the patent mentioned earlier, then it is likely it could be feasible. The solar technology for this product exists, but it may prove difficult to alter it to be used for a shared scooter. If it gets the opportunity to reach the market, then this would most likely be a success within most communities, especially those that are environmentally conscious.

Idea 3: The ride-share app is feasible. The only concerns I can think of is that some predators may try to use this app to harm others; however, there would be a background checking process and security features that could combat this. As a service that operates more like a social media, people could have the option of adding friends, which eliminates some of the risk of interacting with predators as one could limit themselves to only engaging with their friends on the app.

After constructing the Pugh chart, I have opted to choose the shared transportation subscription. Although it was used as the standard, it scored higher than my other two ideas.

The shared transportation subscription would be used via a subscription card, which resembles an ID card, as some methods of shared transportation, such as busses, may request to see that the card belongs to the person who is using it. It would be outfitted with a barcode that would be able to swipe at stations for docked methods of transportation, such as Nicerides. The subscirbers ID number is also on the card, which can be used to unlock shared scooters in their respective apps. Upon requesting feedback, I was informed that subscribers would like an all inclusive app that tracks down and shows the schedules of each type of shared transportation, as well as acting as a platform to initiate access for all types of shared transportation that can be initiated remotely.

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