Billions of missing bike trips

A new app is getting more people on bikes by replicating the success of the Fitbit in motivating people to walk more.

Love to Ride Asia Pacific Regional Manager Christina Sorbello will explain the technology behind the Love to Ride app and many of its initial data and findings.

"Right now, bike riding data is where step counting data was at 12 years ago," Christina says.

"Before the Fitbit et al came along, very few people put pedometers on their belts to manually track their steps each day.  Much like a Fitbit transformed step counting by making it automatic and passive, our app automatically tracks your rides and riding stats without you having to open a tracking app, press start, ride, open the app again, press stop, etc. Our new app has revolutionised how easy it is for people to track all their riding - short trips, long rides, every ride. It also means we have a lot more data from everyday riders who otherwise don’t track their rides."

Christina says the app is digitising bike riding and - like FitBit for walking - is a game changer in adjusting behaviour and encouraging people to cycle - or to ride more.

The app's technology can not only detects automatically if someone is travelling, it can identify the mode they’re using. If the app determines the user is riding a bike, it automatically turns on the GPS and tracks the bike ride.

Christina's presentation will also share Love to Ride's road map for new features, includes a 'comfort map' to give users the ability to ‘rate their routes’ based on how comfortable / safe they felt on that stretch of the network. This data can help make a business case for investment on roads or paths used by people on bikes.

Love to Ride is an online platform operated by a global organisation based in US city Atlanta and focusing on behaviour change to get more people riding bikes. It has worked with more than 29,500 companies in 12 countries, with participants logging over 29 million trips and reaching a total of 387.4 million miles (623.5 million kilometres) since the online community was founded in 2008.

It identifies the barriers to people cycling, addresses them by providing people with relevant information, then encourages participants by compiling their riding statistics, setting goals and sending them positive reinforcing messages.