In this project, students from Hanze, RuG and Noorderpoort are working together on a solution to the bicycle problem in the city of Groningen. The perception is that there are too many bicycles in the city center and the question is whether a bicycle sharing system could be a solution. In a so-called dream session, the exact problem was discussed. Are there really too many bicycles, are they not well distributed or are they handled carelessly, resulting in poor use of the available space and capacity? At the moment, the different groups are working out different solutions to eventually arrive at a mobility concept for bicycles. 

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Due to Covid-19, the Noordepoort students could no longer participate in the project.

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Hanze students have interviewed stakeholders and on that basis have come up with the idea of developing an app that shows where it is busy and where there is still a bicycle parking space. So they are not investigating the shared bicycle, but possibilities for better distribution of their own bicycles. According to them, this can be done with an app. The app communicates with chips in the bicycle racks to make this possible. In addition, they have added a competition element to the app where students receive points if their bicycle is parked properly, because we know that gamification can positively influence behaviour. When you reach a certain number of points, you can exchange them for something. In this project 3 prototypes have been developed for this idea.

 

Psychology Bachelor's thesis students of the RuG have conducted a study into the willingness of students to use a shared bicycle. The survey showed that 27% of the students were willing to use a shared bicycle. As expected, the increase in costs per month and the walking distance to the shared bicycle had a negative effect on the willingness to share a bicycle. We investigated whether psychological ownership is an important factor in the willingness to use sharing initiatives. Indeed, we found that a higher sense of psychological ownership of the bicycle was less correlated with a lower willingness to share bicycles. We also found that people who used a leased bicycle were more willing to use the shared bicycle than people who had their own bicycle.

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