Exploring the human Factors Issues with Biking at Carnegie Mellon University

PROJECT SCOPE 

This project was conducted as part of the Human Factors Research course at Carnegie Mellon University. The premise of the project was to do an in depth research investigation using learned human factors research techniques on a self chosen problem. My group chose to examine the human factors issues regarding biking on campus. To complete this investigation we observed several users. conducted multiple 1:1 user studies, as well as a detailed task analysis.

Time: 4 months

Format: 3-person group research project

Role: Research, Task-Analysis, User Studies

OVERVIEW

With the rising number of students, faculty, and staff riding their bicycles to campus, as well as the new Pittsburgh “Healthy Ride” bicycle sharing program, the number of cyclists is at an all time high. Despite this influx, the Carnegie Mellon University’s (CMU) campus is relatively unequipped to support this increase in bicycle traffic. While many elements of the campus bicycle infrastructure could be addressed to support these individuals (rack-space, theft, maintenance centers, etc), we chose to examine the interaction between cyclists and pedestrians on campus. Currently, high traffic areas on campus pose significant risks to both cyclists and pedestrians due to insufficient markings and poor situational awareness by each stakeholder group. Improving the awareness of pedestrians and cyclists, as well as potentially redesigning the traffic flow on campus could greatly help to improve this problem.

Research

To more fully understand the problem at hand, we conducted multiple forms of user research, including a task analysis and numerous user studies. 

TASK ANALYSIS

Instead of defining a chronological order of actions with a well defined beginning and end location, we applied our task analysis to the universal actions required to bike to, on, and from campus. Due to the fact that cycling is an incredibly complex task, which requires a diverse decision making skill set, this approach helped us gain a better understanding of the common actions and decisions that all cyclists may face. The completed task analysis can be found in the report. 

User Studies

With our user studies, our goal was to gain an understanding of the unique experiences facing cyclists on Carnegie Mellon’s campus-- and in particular, the difficulties they face in their interaction with pedestrians. For our user studies, we fit two cyclists with head-mounted Go-Pro cameras, and asked them to bike various routes around campus (see example footage below). Following this, we replayed the videos for our users, and asked them to describe in detail their cognitive processes during various situations which we had captured on video. We also conducted an interview with these users (see report). Furthermore, an interview was conducted with a user whom had recently been involved in a serious cycling accident on campus, as well as various community members in order to better understand aspects of safety that may have been overlooked. 

Findings and Redesign Thoguhts

Reflecting on our task analysis, user studies, and post-study interviews, we found several human factors themes common throughout. After watching the videos from our user studies and listening to user feedback, we realized that safety was a crucial issue in several key locations of campus (see figure). Users continuously pointed out that navigating these sections of campus-- specifically during high volume times (i.e class interchanges) presented a challenge for them as cyclists. Opportunities for solutions can be divided between those that remove (or lessen) the interaction between cyclists and pedestrians (ex. creating a separate bike lane) and those that seek to improve the situational awareness of either population group.

Redesign 

Some of our ideas for redesign included illuminated bike lanes that utilize dynamic lights installed above the pedestrian walkway (utilizing previously built structures). These lanes would be paired with newly redesigned bike signs, using only symbols, which indicated which part of the walkway was to be used by cyclists. Together, we feel that the combination of sign and lanes create a correct mental model of the bike path for cyclists. Additionally, research has shown symbols to be more effective at communicating hazard warnings.