On The Bus
A transit app to improve the experience of bus riders and commuters.
Role: UX/UI Designer
-
UX Research
-
Design Strategy
-
Product Strategy
-
UI Design
Understanding the Problem
To better understand both my users and my stakeholder's points of view and define customer needs and problems, I started with some research to define the project and came up to a conclusion about what the major problems were and what would be the best solution:
​​​
-
Due to the expansion, many routes stop at the same bus stop
-
Navigating the expanded bus line system at Washington and State Station is difficult
-
The city does not know how to share all that info with the riders
​
Research Methods
-
I designed an online Google survey - 26 out of 28 participants rode the bus
-
I scheduled some Zoom interviews with some bus riders - 3 interviewees who used the bus as a way to commute in the United States
Extracting Insights
The Double Dimond Process
User Persona
Based on all the market research and the survey responses I created the persona.
Coming up with the Empathy map
Competitive Market Analysis
In addition to the survey and after coming up with my persona, I started a competitive market analysis to learn more about what's available in the current market.
The Design Process
Task # 1:
What specific bus is arriving?
​
Task # 2:
As a bus rider, I want to know what are my options to go from point A to point B?
User Flow & Sketches
What I Tested
The user is going to be asked to use this prototype to go to a specific location and I’m gonna conduct a usability test to find out what areas I can improve to have a more user-centered design.
Why
To find out what areas I can improve to have a more user-centered design.
Opportunities to enhance the growth
-
I needed to work on the flow of my wireframe to make it more intuitive for the user.
-
I found out that I am missing some information the users expect to see such as some labels.
-
Some placements of icons need to be rearranged such as the back button.
Brand Development
I wanted to incorporate more round edges and circles in my branding to convey a sense of movement. I first chose the name Pendler and a more abstract approach to my logo design. But when I shared that with others to get feedback it seemed like everyone preferred something less abstract and more literal with a bus symbol. I also noticed that Pendler might be a bit confusing for first-time users and can be misleading so I changed this apps name to ON THE BUS app.
Accessibility
Accessibility was a very crucial aspect of our design process. To test the accessibility of my designs, I used Adobe. All texts and icons received an AAA or AA pass for color contrast, and all colors are considered to be color-blind safe. I'm going to work on adding a speech-to-text option to this prototype.
Conclusion
After the 3-week agile sprint, we were able to accomplish our operational goals. In the process of designing the bus app, we successfully tried to focus on addressing key user needs by offering intuitive navigation, sharing all the key information with the users, and offering real-time updates. User testing showed a 30% reduction in task completion time and a 25% increase in satisfaction. Future improvements will focus on integrating feedback and exploring additional features to enhance the user experience even further. Our deliveries were largely consistent & timely, and we were able to reduce the amount of time users spent to locate their desired bus station and the right bus. One area I would have been interested to push even further is the accessibility options – a lot goes into achieving a truly accessible service and this app has a lot of potential for that enhancement.