7A: testing the hypothesis

7A: testing the hypothesis

• The opportunity: Many students longboard on campus, but despite its popularity, skating is inconvenient for longboarders because there’s no where to put your board, you’re forced to skate on the side walk because police yell at you if you’re in the bike lane, and the sidewalks are over crowded/ have tons of cracks which makes it bumpy and more difficult to ride.
• The who: Longboarders
• The what: Skating on campus is inconvenient
• The why: There’s no where on campus designated for board storage, and campus police force skaters to ride on the bumpy, overcrowded sidewalk and forbid riding in the bike lane.
• Testing the who: While it goes without saying that UF parking is a disaster, many students opt for other options, such as biking, bussing, and long-boarding. However, while UF pulls a decent skating crowd, I think more people would opt to skate if it were made more convent. 
• Testing the what: Skating is inconvenient, especially in comparison to biking. Biking has been made especially accessible on campus; there are bike lanes designated for bikers and racks to house boards while in class, the library or the gym. While skaters will certainly never out number bikers or even come close, long-boarding on campus would be more accessible, and perhaps more frequently used, if these same advancements were applied to skating. While there isn’t much to be done about campus police forbidding bike-lane cruising, there is a solution for skating storage. I believe there is a market of long boarders that would take advantage of a lockable-skate rack opportunity if given the option. 
• Testing the why: I’m not sure why campus police really care about people skating in the bike lane. Bikers can easily move around skaters if they feel they’re not keeping up with traffic, and bikers and skaters alike are equally threatened by car crashes. In addition, I’m not sure why UF doesn’t take advantage of skate racks, especially since other schools utilize them and there is sizable amount of students who chose to skate.

• Interviews:
• Interview 1: Marielle
• Skates once/ week or less
• Issues: 
• No space to skate like the sidewalks
• The roads both have bad cracks
• Police get angry if you’re in the bike lane and the sidewalks are crowded
• Doesn’t overly mind carrying board around, but would love if campus had racks
• Wishes she could skate in the bike lane
• Interview 2: Matt
• Skates everyday
• Issues:
• Skates in the bike lane anyway, but police have pulled him over about it and threatened to give tickets
• Doesn’t mind carrying board around, but would use racks if provided
• Wishes he could more easily skate in the bike lane
• Not threatened by campus police
• Interview 3: Paul
• Everyday
• Issues:
• Sidewalks suck
• Storage
• Biking is way easier physically, and there are accommodations
• Wouldn’t use racks if they had them
• Wishes he could skate in the bike lane
• Not threatened by campus theft
• Interview 4: Jess
• Skates 3 times a week
• Issues
• No space to skate
• Lives too far from campus to skate
• Wishes she could bike in the bike lanes
• Would opt to lock bike
• Interview 5: Bianca
• Skates infrequently
• Issues
• No space to skate
• No where to put board
• Doesn’t 
• Wishes she could skate in bike lane
• Would opt into locking up bike

• Insight gained from the interviews:
• Biggest issue for students is not getting to skate in the bike lane
• Some students would like somewhere to put their bikes
• I thought more students would be interested in lockable skate racks on campus, but the real demand is for skating in bike lanes.