Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No.1

The segment of my market that I pick is students who live off campus who do not have any means of transportation in Gainesville, meaning they do not own a car, scooter or bike (skateboard etc.).

Interview 1: (female living at 2nd Ave)
For her, the need awareness comes when she tries to get to and from campus later at night whether she is going to study at the library or for a club meeting. She says during the day she does not mind walking to and from her classes and even if the timing is right she will take the bus to school. But at those later hours the buses run less frequently and she does not feel safe walking home alone at night. For her, her immediate solution is having her roommate who has a car pick her up or catching a ride home with a friend. She says sometimes she will walk home and call a friend but she is nervous doing so, occasionally she will call an Uber depending on the price and time of night.

Interview 2: (male living at Gainesville Place)

For him, the need awareness comes for when he goes to classes. For most of his classes he rather bikes than take the bus. He just takes the bus because he has no other alternatives. He says the bus is reliable in coming every 15 minutes from his place but to get to his stop it takes about 25 mins which he believes is too long. It makes him leave for class way earlier than he like to. For his immediate solution he rides the bus. He says he does not come to campus during odd hours in he evening and if he has to his roommate drives him. The bus is consistent but just puts a strain on his day because he feels like his commute to and from school makes him unproductive for over an hour each day.

Interview 3: (female living behind mid)
For her, the need awareness comes when she goes to campus for work. She works at Starbucks in the library. She sometimes gets weird hours making her leave at night time. She says it would be nice to have a reliable and safe way to get home at night. She says none of the bus loops run close to her place leaving her to walk. Neither of her roommates has a car so she just calls her boyfriend every night when she has to walk home alone. She says during the day she does not mind walking to and from classes and work because she feels safe. Her immediate solution is walking and talking to someone on the phone but she believes that if that had rental bikes she would use them because of their convenience and less scary to ride a bike at night than walk.

After interviewing three different people, I feel like there are multiple uses for these bikes just to get to and from campus. They all would use them at different hours and for different circumstances. It seems the UBikes would be a huge convenience for students because it would allow them to use them whenever the time is right for them to head somewhere. I would describe this segment as people who are looking for a new transportation method for travel, there current method is working but they are tired of their current state. They do not stretch very far when it comes to information search as they go with the only solution they currently have. For one it is relying on the bus for the other is they rely on their boyfriend to call them.