Presentation of the Bikeship Network, in fulfillment of the Biomimicry Student Design Challenge.

1. Crea%ng
a
network
of
courteous
bicycle
commuters

2. The
DesignMonkeys
Santigie Fofana-Dura! Laura DeVito! Swapna Sketcham!
Background: Education! Background: ESL Background: Interior
teaching, photography! Design !
Team Manager!
Dustin Freemont! Danielle Olson! Mallory Pratt!
Background: Political Background: Graphic Background: Biological
Science! Design.! Sciences and Education!
Faculty Mentor!

3. Green Bomber
Worms distract
predators with
“bombs” that are
Fireflies bioluminescent
communicate with upon release. !
potential mates
through light signals.
Could people use
light to attract
mates?!
Our
first
INSPIRATIONS
Ferns produce spores that are
Local
to
Oregon
flagellum. Can we somehow
utilize rotating locomotion?!
Wood Ants heat their nest using
Ants and bees swarm: flexibility, the optimum angle of orientation
robustness and self organization. How and their collective body heat.!
can we apply swarming to humans?!

4. Process…
System
Map:
Biking
in
Portland
Planning
our
website

5. Where
do
we
fit
in?

6. From Biological Sciences Website: University of California Santa Barbara!
Safety
Luminescence can be used to
steer away predators. In the
case of biking, it is cars that
will be warned by lights!
A@rac%on
Luminescence can also be used
to attract mates. The attraction
of other bikers encourages self
organization and propagation
of bike culture.!

7. Our
team
tested
out
different
bike
lights.

8. Visit
bikeship.org
to
view
our
mock-­‐up
website.

9. Find
potenHal
bikeship-­‐mates
on
your
smart-­‐phone!

10. The
bikeship
light
glows
in
the
night

11. If
you
are
a
new
biker,
check
out
our
recommended
light
products:
Magne%c
induc%on
front
and
rear
light
by
Reelight
Solar
powered
ankle
light
by
Pedalite

12. Thank
you
Experts!
Cara
Wilder:
Microbiologist
Don
Harker:
Sustainability
Consultant
Dylan
Varekamp:
The
Bike
Gallery
MaS
Cardinal:
Signal
Cycles
WesternBikeworks

13. DesignMonkeys Bikeship.org Executive Summary
Portland is known for its vibrant and growing bicycle culture. Aside from the health
benefits of bicycling, cycling to work instead of driving reduces CO2 emissions. The annual Bike
Commuter Challenge sponsored by the Bicycle Transportation Alliance logged a total of over
22,000 lbs of CO2 emissions* “saved” during September 2011 alone by 286 bike commuters.
Portland has the greatest percentage of bicycle commuters, 5.8%, of the nine largest cities
in the nation (Pucher & Buehler, 2011). Of note, men make up roughly 75% of bicycle
commuters. The Portland Bicycle Plan for 2030, adopted by the City Council in 2010, sets a goal
of 25% bicycle commuters and an expenditure of $613 million to triple the miles of bicycle path
infrastructure. While ambitious and impressive for the US, it pales in comparison to the biking
capital of the world, Amsterdam, where 40% of all traffic is by bicycle.
In a study of Portland residents' attitudes towards commuting by bike, 60% or roughly
300,000 people were class as “Interested But Concerned”, meaning they are willing to adopt
commuting by bicycle, but have obstacles that need to be addressed. The foremost of those
obstacles is fear, mainly of injury from motor vehicles (Geller, 2009). In another study, it was
found that women's top concerns are feeling unsafe riding on roads with traffic and not knowing
safe commuting routes (Twaddle et al., 2010). Accordingly, women are twice as interested as
men in having bicycle route maps outlining dedicated bike boulevards and other safety
infrastructure. Currently, women make up only 25% of bicycle commuters.
So the design problem we tackled was to devise a plan that would lure a portion of that
“Interested But Concerned” group, many of whom are women, into becoming regular bicycle
commuters in a city north of the 45th parallel (day length <10 hours for 4 months of the year)
with an average of 222 cloudy days per year. But this was all arrived at much later in the process.
Let’s go back to the beginning.
DesignMonkeys early on was most interested in solutions that involved using/altering
communication and socialization behaviors. Perhaps that is because team members have
backgrounds that include education, graphic & interior design, ESL, and political science. Our
first notion was to find ways of storing energy already present in the biological system of the
region to be substitutes for non-renewable energy sources. In addition, the solution needed to be
inexpensive, DIY-friendly and to require minimal use of non-renewable resources. The stored
energy could then be used to power illumination or food transportation heating/cooling currently
powered by non-renewable energy. Energy from vehicle noise, from algae grown in the ocean,
from bicycle riding and from pedestrian movement were all considered as potential sources. Also
considered was the creation of “movable greenspaces” to create gatherings in parking spaces of
big box stores or similar to promote connection with the natural world and slip in bicycle
promotion at the same time.
The two biomimicry strategies that most interested the DesignMonkeys were
bioluminescence (the days were getting shorter) and swarming behavior. Both are
communication and socialization strategies utilized by organisms commonly found in the Pacific
Northwest. How could these be harnessed as an energy sink or energy source? At the same time,
the team members had become increasingly interested in engaging or utilizing the bicycle culture
of the region as PNCA had recently hosted Oregon Manifest, a design/build competition for
specialty cargo bicycles. We made a system map of biking in Portland and looked to our
biological inspirations for guidance. We investigated the feasibility of making products with
bioluminescent properties, such as bicycle clothing, that would be used for increased safety as

14. well communication. Given our resources and expertise and having determined that systems for
harvesting and storing energy from bicycles already existed, we determined that reducing energy
consumption by increasing bicycle ridership would be our design goal.
We then turned to experts in the cycling community for advice and information. What
came back was illuminating. Bicycle lights were often an afterthought for cyclists – except for
the hard-core commuters. And despite well-promoted bicycle transportation maps, bicycle-
centered events and several high-profile organizations, there was no system for new or aspiring
bike commuters to find one another and ride together. This was the starting point that led to
bikeship.org, the networking website for bicycle commuters in Portland.
At first, DesignMonkeys aspired to using different colors of LED lights on bikes to
indicate the “romantic” interests of riders – a sort of dating by bicycle. But that became more
complex and potentially less effective at increasing regular ridership. We reviewed the lighting
options available for bicycles and settled on one that would be used to signal ones membership in
the network for identification and communication purposes and a recommended second set to
meet safety requirements. The bikeship lights are orange and mount on the bicycle spokes; the
recommended set is for the front and rear of the bike. The bikeship lights have LED bulbs, are
battery-powered and made by Cateye. The recommended lights are powered by magnetic
induction and made by Reelights.
Next came designing the structure of the network and its website. We wanted it to be as
user-friendly as possible, to encourage communication among members and to provide a way for
user-generated interests and information to be shared. Once the user has created a profile that
includes their commuting information and paid a one-time membership fee of $20, the cyclist
can pick up their first bikeship light for free at a participating bicycle shop. Bikeship members
can find one another via a Smartphone app, via riders suggested by the website and visually by
seeing the bikeship lights. Bikeship members accrue points by giving positive feedback to other
members and points can then be used for 10% off coupons at participating bike shops.
The success of the bikeship network will have many benefits, both social and
environmental and it can be adapted to any city. It encourages the use of bicycle lights, a
required, but oft-ignored, safety device. It promotes a healthy activity and for every 10 miles
commuted reduces CO2 emissions by 9.8 pounds*. An addition of just 10 members per month
that commute only three days/week saves and additional 1,110 lbs of CO2 every month. The
network addresses two top safety concerns of women, a large portion of our target market. And it
works synergistically with the resources that the Portland Department of Transportation has
provided and is expanding to increase ridership.
We envision small swarms of bike commuters meeting in neighborhoods, finding each other by
their bikeship lights and growing the network, all unaware that they are borrowing from the
behavior of bees and green bomber worms.
*based on the US Environmental Protection Agency standard of 0.98 lbs of CO2/ mile emitted by a car
averaging 20 mpg in an urban area.
Geller, Roger. 2009 Four Types of Cyclists. Portland Office of Transportation, Portland, OR.
Portland Department of Transportation. 2010. The Portland Bicycle Plan for 2030. Available at
http://www.portlandonline.com/transportation/index.cfm?c=44597.
Pucher, John; Dill, Jennifer; Handy, Susan. 2010 Infrastructure, programs, and policies to increase
bicycling: An international review. Preventive Medicine 50:S106–S125.
Twaddle, Heather; Hall, Fred and Bracic, Blanka 2010 Latent Bicycle Commuting Demand and Effects of
Gender on Commuter Cycling and Accident Rates. Journal of the Transportation Research Board, No.
2190, Transportation Research Board of the National Academies, Washington, D.C., pp. 28–36.

15. Life's Principles:
Development with Growth:
The freedom that the bikeship system allows cyclists encourages them to self organize. Anyone
can recognize a member of bikeship by the one-of-a-kind orange boomerang light from a
distance or up close with its featured logo. This allows users to find each other or non-users to
become interested. The smart-phone application can be used to find potential bikeship-mates and
the website will also give recommendations for who to connect with. Through using these tools,
it is our hope that cyclists will organize themselves into groups to support each other in their
daily commutes, and that potential cyclists will become more interested. The network builds
itself from the bottom up, making the experience more rich the more people join. The system
itself is made up of components which can be replicated in other cities or expanded into a
network larger than the city of Portland. Each component in and of itself already exists and is
successful in other circumstances (facebook, linkedin, bike lights); it is how we have combined
all of the elements that is unique.
Adaptation:
The Bikeship model demonstrates key components to resilience through the redundancy of the
bike light communication system, the potential variations the bike light systems make take and
decentralization. Each person that demonstrates “bikeship” (being a courteous) can be
recognized through feedback on that will communicate to fellow cyclists that this person is
trustworthy and exemplary in kindness and generosity when involved in bike activities. These
activities may include while biking on the road, but may also pertain to giving great biking tips
on the Bikeship website. In addition to redundancy through giving bikeship lights, it may also
create variations due to the decentralized nature of bike culture. The integrity of the vision
bikeship will remain, but the rate in which bikeship light awards are given and the way in which
bike commuters may adapt their own lighting systems for communication with other bikers will
lend itself to self renewal.
Evolve to Survive:
The Bikeship model is especially designed to reinforce the current Portland bike culture,
however, the same integral parts of the system can be replicated and integrated in surprising new
ways that promote social networking and bike safety. The key elements are maintaining Bikeship
vision, creating a light communication system for bike commuters and providing an online
platform for conversations to be held about Bikeship worthy topics and events. All of these may
be completely different when applied to a new bike community due to the self-organization
qualities of cyclists.
Locally Attuned/Responsive:
In order to adapt and evolve to survive, one must be able to be locally attuned and responsive.
The innate nature of a cyclist to self organize can be akin to a swarming effect. If one cyclist in a
pack of cyclists gets slows down or speeds up, the other cyclists must quickly self organize in
order for the system to continue moving smoothly. This type of behavior can be noticed in
cyclist races and also when viewing a flock of birds. The Bikeship light communication system
will serve as a feedback loop in the bike community. These feedback loops will be promoting
bike safety and bike kinship. The Bikeship light not only serves as a message to others that the

16. person is trustworthy and has demonstrated an act of kindness associated with the biking
community, but also an icebreaker. This icebreaker will encourage communication on the bike
commute, find common commuting routes and exchange useful information about routes.
Overall, this Bikeship model was created for the sole reason that Portland has a significant biking
population already that can be increased beyond the current bike commuter community.