Incentivizing Cooperation in a Sharing Economy: Possible Solutions to the Tragedy of the Commons

As city governances devise solutions to solve traffic and lack of parking, programs such as bike-sharing have been devised to combat such problems. Overwhelmingly, though, these bike-sharing solutions have fallen susceptible to theft, damage, and black market trading, thus rendering the attempt as non-sustainable and costing the city a vast amount of money at the expense of its citizens. This fall through can be referred to as the tragedy of the commons, where an individual maximizes one’s personal gain while depleting the sustainability of the public resource. In order to nurture a sustainable community where public resources enhance every-day-life, one must be incentivized to depart from the public resource better than it was before.

Having come across a shared electronic scooter named BIRD, I have formulated several ideas that incentivize communal gain while one is in pursuit of maximizing their own gains. Although these solutions are specific to BIRD, derivatives can be formulated in order to solve other tragedies.

BIRD Scooter and my Ride History

Riding a BIRD

Riding a BIRD is very easy. Simply open the mobile app, find a BIRD near you, reserve it, and unlock it once you’re near it. BIRD charges the rider* $1 per ride, plus $0.15 every minute it’s unlocked. Although not an ultimate public resource like the bike-sharing program where the cost is free to ride the bikes, BIRD has a low-barrier of access that makes it affordable for everyone to use. This low-barrier of access ($2–$4) is crucial to incentivize sustainable cooperation because it is able to quantify acts of sustainability, thus putting a dollar value towards good behavior.

*Riders are users that ride the BIRD (electric scooter)

BIRD’s Problems

Although riding a BIRD is cheap and easy to do, there are several problems that could possibly lead it to follow in the footsteps of the bike-sharing programs:

• Riders are unwilling to rent a BIRD if it is not conveniently near them
• BIRDs are depleted of their battery power without being able to charge throughout the day, thus decreasing the available supply
• BIRDs are left in inconvenient places for the next rider to find

Incentivizing Drop-Off Location

Although BIRDs were originally created to be left anywhere, riders can be incentivized to leave BIRDs in convenient locations for the next rider to use. If a future-rider wishes to request a BIRD in their close proximity, they can pay a nominal fee ($0.50) where they ask for BIRDs to be dropped-off around them. Current riders that drop-off the BIRD in the requested proximity are credited the nominal fee that the future-rider locked-in when they requested a Bird.

BIRD app screenshot with my edits to add the requested drop-off

This form of request satisfies the on-going demand that BIRDs have and therefore incentivizes continuous use through maximizing one’s gain. The rider who dropped-off the BIRD in the requested location leaves satisfied that their overall charge was discounted by dropping-off the BIRD a block or two farther than their original destination.

In order for the rider to gain from the requested drop-off, they must value the discount to be greater than the extra time spent walking to their original destination. In order for the future-rider to gain from the requested drop-off, they must value the nominal request fee to be lower than the time spent walking to the nearest BIRD. Therefore, BIRD will gain from the requested drop-off feature through its continuous use if they are able to generate enough demand.

Incentivizing Charging the BIRD

Even in a perfect world where all BIRDs are in use and have a requested drop-off location, BIRDs’ batteries must be refilled in order to sustain its continuous use. Several solutions, besides solar-powered charging, can be implemented to ensure that BIRDs are always charged.

The first solution is to promote discounted rides to users who charge the BIRD while riding it. Portable battery packs can be freely-distributed or sold ($10 – $15) to riders who wish to unlock this discount. After several uses of the battery pack, a rider can gain from the discounts given per ride and thus render their $10 purchase of a battery pack a successful investment (always taking the electricity costs to charge the battery pack into account). BIRD must advertise that after “X” amount of rides, you can profit from purchasing their battery pack.

The BIRD BATTERY can be freely-distributed or sold to riders who wish to unlock a discount

Another solution that can be implemented immediately includes incentivizing drop-offs in Nests. Nests are charging hubs for BIRDs that are already located throughout the city. If users are incentivized to drop-off the BIRD in the Nest, they can be given a discount to their current ride, similar to requested drop-off locations.

Before a rider takes off on their BIRD, they should be given a minute to input their destination. Not only does this forecast their ride’s cost, it also signals available discounts that allow for users to pay less if they drop-off the BIRD in the requested locations.

Conclusion

Sustainable solutions, such as the electric-powered BIRD scooter, must be utilized by the community in order to solve the problems of traffic and lack of parking, while also minimizing the carbon footprint that current forms of transportation leave behind. Although some might argue that creating electricity through coal to charge the electric scooters leaves a carbon footprint, sustainable solutions are currently in effect that will simplify the ability to generate electricity.

It’s exciting to see how solutions are made every day which allow us to maximize our personal gain, while also leaving a sustainable community behind. Let’s always strive for win-win solutions!

From Kai Gradert on Unsplash

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