Our team is passionate to explore the design challenge: “How might we support shared mobility in the underserved neighbourhoods of New York to develop environmental impact and create new economic opportunities.”
As a team based in New York City, we experience and thus empathize with the challenges faced by the increasing numbers who live in outer borough neighborhoods, stuck with unreliable transit options and long travel times tracked in hours, not minutes. We wish to explore the varying concentrations of ride-sharing services and the implications of the presence of ride-sharing services between underserved areas of the city and areas of the city with adequate access.
NYC is the quintessential city representing long working hours, fast-paced life and stressful commutes. The daily stressor like commuting has become affects not only individuals’ mental health and happiness, but also ultimately the economic opportunities of their communities. The increasing amounts of time they spend waiting for, and in the transports, translates itself directly as more stress, being late for work and less time spent with family and friends. This in turn could increase exhaustion and mental health problems, and decrease productivity and work motivation.
We therefore wish to develop alternative ways to utilize shared mobility in addressing these social and economic issues in underserved areas of NYC. We believe sustainability goes beyond emission levels and pollution. This issue goes beyond the daily struggle of commute: it is a necessary tool to improve the quality of life of millions of people living in underserved areas who could be spending their time more efficiently.
Pertaining to history, when a transit strikes halted buses and subway trains throughout New York’s five boroughs 40 years ago, residents in some of the most marooned parts of the city started using their own cars and vans to pick people up, charging a dollar to shuttle them to their destinations. Drawing inspiration from unconventional solutions, we believe that it is time for innovators such as us to nurture the development of intelligent, environmentally friendly and independent transportation services that fill transit gaps through human-centered design and new technologies for shared rides.
Mentor(s): Sean Rhodes
Project Leaders: Rajni Chada
Members: Shuling Chen, Amira Dhanoa, Chun-Fang Huang, Wangchuck, Katja
