diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index a28da33..e6f2c9d 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -5,4 +5,10 @@ before_install:
   - "export DISPLAY=:99.0"
   - "sh -e /etc/init.d/xvfb start"
 before_script:
-  - psql -c 'create database bike_bike_test;' -U postgres
+  - cp config/database.yml.travis config/database.yml
+  - psql -c 'create database travis_ci_test;' -U postgres
+  # consider dumping sql via db:structure:dump then loading directly into psql
+  # "psql -U postgres -q -d DB_NAME -f db/structure.sql"
+  - bundle exec rake db:test:prepare
+script: bundle exec cucumber
+env: RAILS_ENV=test
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/config/database.yml.travis b/config/database.yml.travis
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9510842
--- /dev/null
+++ b/config/database.yml.travis
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+test: &test
+  adapter: postgresql
+  encoding: unicode
+  database: travis_ci_test
+  username: postgres
+
+development:
+  <<: *test
+
+production:
+  <<: *test
+
+cucumber:
+  <<: *test
\ No newline at end of file