WilliamJDHall
About The Project
I was contacted by the Milwaukee Transit Authority to help them increase transparency about their growing bus system. The MTA was luck enough to secure funding for more bus lines but are finding some of the bus stops in the system are becoming too crowded. Some of the bus stops, especially those located at the intersection of Washington and State, now support up to seven different routes.
Users have reported being confused about when their bus will arrive. I've been brought on board to help provide a solution.
Timeline
Week 1 - Discover
Competitive Analysis, User Surveys and Interviews
Week 2 - Define
Personas, User Journey, MVP Scope and User Stories
Week 3 and 4 - Develop
Sketching, User Flows, Sitemap, Wireframes, Font Choices, Style Tile, Logo, Mockups
Week 5 - Test and Iterate
Mid-Fidelity Prototype, Usability Tests and Reports, Sketches, Iterating on Prototype
Week 6 - Deliver
High Fidelity Prototype, Component Library, Branding, Final Color and Font Choices
Tools Used
Discover
Research Goals
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Competive Analysis: What features will our users expect?
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User Surveys: How do users interact with the bus system?
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User Interviews: How do users feel about their experience?
Let's Take a Look at Our Competitors
Strengths:
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Leave and Arrive Times
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Search By Destination
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Set Location
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Real Time Bus Updates
Weaknesses
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Save a Route​
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Recent Route
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Nearby Bus Stops
User Interviews Takeaways
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Users have 1 to 2 bus stops they frequent
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Users don't want to calculate when to get to the bus stop
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"How likely am I to catch that bus?"
“When I miss my bus, I feel like there was something I did wrong to figure out when to get there.”
Personas
Behaviors:
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Daily commuter with dedicated bus stop
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Trusts the bus will arrive often
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Uses Google Maps as transportation app
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Misses 1 to 2 busses a week
Needs:
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Doesn't want to feel rushed
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Needs to know when follow up busses arrive at a bus stop
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Needs to rely on public transportation
Goals:
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To be in control of her commute
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Want to trust the bus will arrive on time
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Use an app that works for both work and exploring other destinations in the city
Behaviors:
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Takes the bus to social events
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Does not have a dedicated bus stop
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Does not feel rushed to catch a bus
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Still does not trust the bus to arrive on time
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Will can an Uber/Lyft/Taxi if need be
Needs:
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Needs to search by destination
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Ability to compare multiple routes to get to his location as soon as possible
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Information for the next available bus
Goals:
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Arrive at his stop ASAP
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Trust his bus will arrive when it's expected
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Be able to use an app to travel throughout the city as he explores
The User Journey
The Design Problem
As we see in the user journey, there is a pain point that requires the user to calculate their own mental model of the correct time to arrive at a bus stop.
How can we show data that makes this calculation informed and not imagined?
Define and Develop
The Proposed Solution
Instead of treating a city bus as something that arrives at a certain time, we will treat them like trains are in city subways.
Instead of guessing when the bus will arrive, now the user will know an estimate of when it will arrive.
MVP User Stories
High Need
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As a User I want to search for my Destination and see Navigation Steps
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As a user I want to find information about nearby bus stops
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As a user I want to search for my bus stop
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As a user I want to search for my bus route
Stretch Goals
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As a user I want to save a favorite route from the navigation screen
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As a user I want to shortcuts to my favorites​
Out of Scope
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As a user I want to know more about Bus delays and detours
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As a user I want to save home and work info
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As a user I want a widget to display my favorite routes and bus stops
Initial Development Cycle
Click Images to Expand
Site Map
User Flows
Sketches
Wireframes
Low-Fidelity Prototype
Low-Fidelity Prototype
The first low-fidelity prototype was created with these thoughts in mind:
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Show estimates of when a bus will arrive at a bus stop
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Provide Users with multiple shortcuts on the home screen
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Make Search Functionality prominent and include ability to search by Bus Stop and Bus Route
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Include detailed navigation steps
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Show Full Bus Route
Test and Iterate
Usability Tests on First Prototype
Goals:
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Encourage exploration of the app
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See if Users would discover when a bus arrives at a bus stop
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Find out if the information is being communicated effectively
Negatives:
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3 of 5 users felt the Usability Test was too open ended
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4 of 5 users felt the yellow background was too strong
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5 of 5 users asked where the map existed outside the home screen
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5 of 5 users could not identify when they succeeded
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4 of 5 users confused the bus logo for the home button
Positives:
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4 of 5 users like the overall color scheme and branding
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5 of 5 users were able to decide the next bus they could catch
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5 of 5 users like how the pages flow intuitive
Main Takeway
By designing a solution for Persona 1, we neglected to design for Persona 2 and casual users.
Back to the Drawing Board!
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Don’t forget about Persona 2!
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Users full navigation experience with maps
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Add in favorites functionality
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Increase Shortcuts to Navigation Screen
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Implement Menu System with Home button
Usability Tests on Second Prototype
Goals:
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Test specific user flows for both personas
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Persona 1: How would you get home on a rainy day after work?​
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Persona 2: How would you use the app for the first time?
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Would users discover favorite functionality on the navigation page?​
Results:​
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2/2 like the favorites feature
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User #2 wants it expanded to include Bus Stops
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2/2 used Nearby Bus Stop feature when available
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2/2 found the map readable and helpful
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2/2 said the they understood the arrival times​
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User #1 estimated if they could wait before leaving
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User #2 thought they could beat the earliest estimate
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Deliver
High-Fidelity Prototype
The final high-fidelity prototype was created with these thoughts in mind:
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Make Search and Navigation features more robust for every user
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Add Favorites functionality
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Integrate menu system
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Provide Users with multiple shortcuts on the home screen
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Make color use harmonious, not overwhelming or a distraction
Logo, Color, and Font
Component Library
Conclusion
There is an opportunity to decrease the mental load expected of users. This can be achieved by treating city busses like trains and showing the users estimates for when the bus will arrive at a bus stop.
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Going forward, we can not forget about some users while prioritizing others and it was crucial to go back and implement search, map, and navigation functionality.​
There are also easy wins available for future releases:​
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Users want more favorites!
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Home and Work features​
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Widget for phone home screen to show favorite routes
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Detailed messaging for detours and accessibility
