CONTEXT

The City of Cologne has a strong focus on integrating new technologies into efforts to improve bicycle traffic in order to increase the overall satisfaction of users. The city is also keen to actively involve citizens in the development of new bicycle concepts and to create a stronger link to the cycling community by providing better ways to notify about any issues on the routes.

CHALLENGE

The Challenge is to offer the citizens a mobile app that promotes city center cycling through intelligent capabilities. In addition, the city would like to get key insights on the bicycle traffic through a web application, in order to support its administration in developing new bicycle concepts. Key capabilities, such as:

• Understand better the bicycle traffic
• Get insights on which routes are actually taken by the cyclists
• Guide cyclists through the streets avoiding road hazards
• Provide a unified overview of the cyclists’ actual needs
• Create direct link to the cycling community

OPEN CALL WINNER

Bike Citizens emerged as winning bidder from the EMBERS Open Call and is developing the solution by enhancing their own mobile / Web applications with new features in close collaboration with Ubiwhere.

Bike Citizens was founded in Graz, Austria in 2011 by the bike messengers Daniel Kofler and Andreas Stückl. Grown to employ of about 25 people Bike Citizens opened another office in Berlin in February 2015. Bike Citizens develops its own cycling-related products and offers a platform to the community of urban cyclists, as well as reliable software solutions and digital services for cities.

SOLUTION

The Solution comprises a mobile app with the following features:

• Route planning and assistance
• Visualization of bicycle traffic and road hazards on map
• Reporting of road obstructions and routing errors
• Visualization of parking occupancy on map

As well as a web application with the following features:

• Visualization on the bicycle traffic
• Strategic monitoring dashboard (graphics, metrics)
• Managing reported road hazards and obstructions