The objective of this project was to develop an application that facilitates electric bike rental usage by notifying the renter of available bikes at their chosen bike station. Therefore, aptly named Bike-Ability, its name a fusion of the word availability and the word –‘bike’, so also capturing the function of the application. Usage of this Android app ensures that users save time in that they no longer have to unnecessarily waste time in arriving at empty bike stations, especially during peak or rush hour.

An ancillary, but equally important function of the app is that through it end-users may avail of an opportunity to also reserve bikes in advance of reaching a bike station, augmenting the time-saving capabilities of the app further.

In total, Bike-Ability will feature four use-cases, namely: Check availability of bikes, a reservation tool, a rental function and a way for the app users to contact the app administrators.

Bike Ability implements a raspberry pi camera to keep track of the bike availability that is in turn relayed to the bike renting stakeholder. The camera is equipped to detect available bikes through Open CV in order to provide the user with real-time information on the number of bikes available at a particular station.