Designing to Bridge the Gender Gap in Micromobility

Abstract

Despite the popularity of micromobility services, there is a prominent gender gap in users of micromobility, where men who ride e-scooters and e-bikes greatly outnumber women. This master thesis project investigates the barriers to women’s micromobility adoption that contribute to this gap, and subsequently proposes a design solution addressing these barriers. Adopting a user-centered approach, qualitative interviews were conducted with both user and non-user women to identify and understand their safety and accessibility needs. The primary barrier to women’s adoption of micromobility solutions was found to be an interconnected network of personal safety concerns, gender stereotypes, varying travel needs, and negative preconceived notions surrounding micromobility. Taking into account these findings, solutions were ideated upon and evaluated. A high-fidelity prototype was created to exemplify how the discovered barriers may be addressed through design solutions. This resulting prototype was dubbed Training Mode, a free browser-based e-scooter training platform that addresses the participants’ needs for more transparency and instruction on how to navigate the functions of an e-scooter. Initial evaluations suggest that Training Mode succeeds in enticing hesitant non-users to engage with e-scooters, prompting future work to investigate its potential to impact on female ridership.