As my Industrial Design senior capstone project at the University of Cincinnati, I am designing a transit stroller. The stroller has a minimum footprint while on transit. It condenses while on the bus to fit between the seats. This allows the child to remain seated in their stroller, safely buckled in. The stroller is out of the aisle, which is the main concern for both the bus drivers and other passengers.
There is a growing trend for young families to use public transit, but baby strollers present problems on buses. Cincinnati is moving toward better public transit with the Cincinnati StreetCar project, making this the perfect time to take another look at how some of our smallest passengers experience public transportation.
I spent the last month and a half traveling Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, France, and Belgium taking public transit. I saw baby buggys and strollers everywhere. They all were different shapes, sizes, designs, wheels mounts, and seat mounts. With the exception of the classic umbrella stroller, most are not suited for public transport. Usually the larger the stroller, the smaller the infant is. The one thing they all had in common, was that they were all awful at using public transit. The baby prams were extremely large, and they all had trouble with stairs. In addition to safely transporting the child, the parent needs space for diaper bags, toys, snacks, and their own personal bag.
Here in the States, riders are generally unhappy that strollers take up so much space, and parents are upset that they are required to remove everything from their strollers and fold them to take the bus. This attitude is almost entirely absent in Europe. Asking parents to fold their strollers is entirely unheard of, and riders don’t really mind the strollers.
I started looking at them as a design problem. What if they were able to compact, or retract their large wheels, or somehow reduce their footprint without disturbing the sleeping occupant? Almost all strollers are foldable, but that’s only for storage, and often it is difficult to do one handed. There is obviously room for improvement in this product. That's where this project comes in.
- May 29: Worked on my CAD Model.
- May 28: Finished sewing the seat.
- May 27: Cut out fabric from my patterns.
- May 26: Took final seat measurements and updated patterns.
- May 24: Took frame back to Drew's Off-Road to make one minor correction, then talked to the Annotek Annodizers about scheduling.
- May 23: Had final crit with my professors. Showed them my aluminum frame wearing the seat mockup. They were impressed and told me to keep going.
- May 22: Spent the afternoon at Drew's Off-Road and we got my frame finished
- May 21: Went back to Drews's Off-Road and they suggested try J.R. Mechanical Services. They were able to bend the back legs.
- May 20: Sewed a mock-up of the seat/basket.
- May 19: Redesigned and created a sewing pattern for the seat/basket.
- May 18: Visited Drew's Off-Road again to provide them updated blueprints. Talked about doing the bending on Monday.
- May 16: Submitted and approved cost of plastic pieces. Talked to Fab Shop and Drew's Off-Road about possibly bending my aluminum.
- May 15: Modeled connection pieces to be 3D plastic printed.
- May 14: Picked up aluminum from AES, and ordered more from Metal Supermarket. Looked for a place to have it bent.
- May 13: Happy Mother's Day, especially to all the new moms who will use my stroller in the future!
- May 12: Created CAD model and new graphics. Built second mock-up, it works!
- May 11: Redesigned the wheel configuration and drew plans for the next mock-up.
- May 10: Built a full-scale mock-up and discovered original wheel layout will not work. The folding mechanisms however, will.
- May 9: Met with professors, agreed with choice of anodized aluminum, and we decided I need to build a mock up first.
- May 8: Visited local Cincinnati companies; AES, Metal Supermarket, and Annotek, about using aluminum and getting my parts anodized.
- May 7: Visited Metal Supermarket to check out available aluminum stock.
- May 6: Entered design into Cincinnati Innovates competition.
- May 3: Presented my design to my professors, they advised me to use aluminum for the frame.
- April 24: Received follow up information from Cincinnati Metro via email.
- April 23: Built small-scale model.
- April 20: Spoke to Cincinnati Metro about their policies and concerns regarding strollers on buses. April 10: Presented initial concept to professors.
- March 27: Decided problem was worth pursuing.
- March: Observed strollers having trouble using public transit.
I am locally sourcing my prototype. These are the companies who are helping me and their websites. BIG thank you to them. Visit their sites! Aluminum Extruded Shapes, Metal Supermarket, Drew's Off-Road, J.R. Mechanical Services, Annotek Annodizing, UC's RPC, Hyde Park's JoAnn Fabrics
