RideTime
Case Study, Prototyping, UX/UI Design
Mobile bus app designed to help bus riders navigate the crazy world of public transportation.
Mobile bus app designed to help bus riders navigate the crazy world of public transportation.
Transit officials have identified a problem that they want to solve. Due to expansion, numerous bus routes have been recently added. Many of those routes stop at the same bus stop. Riders want to know when the next bus will arrive at each stop. They also want to know how much time they have to get to the bus stop. Riders are currently complaining the most about the bus stop at Washington and State, which is served by seven bus lines.
View Prototype
1. Riders want to be able to tell when each of the buses arrives at the Washington & State bus stop.
2. Riders want to know how much time they have to get to the Washington & State bus stop before the bus they need arrives at that stop.
3. Riders want to be able to select one of the seven bus lines at Washington & State bus stop to see a list of its future arrival times.
RideTime provides users with accurate time so they can tell when each of the buses will arrive at the stations. Riders will have the ability to see how far they are from the station and how much time they have left before their bus arrives. RideTime also allows users to check for trip durations and look for a specific bus and its future arrival times at different stations. With RideTime, users can also check the current location of their bus, as well as see if there are any alerts for delays.
Next, I will discuss the design process I took to come up with the solutions.
Research Methods:
1. Competitive Analysis
2. User Survey
3. Consumer Interviews
For this project I looked at two competitor apps, Google Maps and Moovit. One a little more well known than the other. Analyzing these two apps gave me a great understanding of each of their strengths and weaknesses.
Google Maps:
Strengths: best map data, people are already comfortable using the app, live view, able to filter route type such as best route, least walking, least transfers and more
Weaknesses: geared more towards driving than public transportation, has less options than other transportation apps like Citymapper
What makes it different: has live view option that lays out directions placed right on top of your world, tells you how busy/crowded it is and also gives you the ability to add that information as a rider
Moovit:
Strengths: gives option to call Uber or Lyft, gives price for each suggested route, provides walking direction, able to filter route type such as best route, least walking and least transfers
Weaknesses: times next to the wait time is confusing, not very well known app
What makes it different: allows you to filter off different transit options like ferry or cable car, etc. shows route option specifically for wheelchair and stroller accessibility
Next, I conducted some user surveys and interviews to gain a better understanding of my users and their needs.
Interview Questions:
1. Where do you live?
2. How do you currently navigate around the city?
Riders:
3. How frequently do you use the bus?
4. Can you describe your experience finding the bus and route to go on?
5. How difficult or easy did you find using the app?
6. What are your biggest frustrations with the app?
7. What information or feature do you think would make the app more beneficial?
Non-riders:
3. Do you use any public transportation? If so, what types?
4. Have you ever ridden a bus?
5. What was your experience like?
6. What would make you want to ride the bus again?
User Survey Results
Top 3 pain points of current apps:
1. Inaccurate wait times - 57.1%
2. Cannot purchase tickets online - 50%
3. Unable to tell the current bus location - 42.9%
Top 3 most requested features:
1. Schedules and times of bus lines - 66.7%
2. Bus route information - 55.6%
3. Current bus location - 38.9%
User Interview Results
Based on the user interviews I conducted, it mostly aligned with the user results survey. Majority of the participants wanted the ability to tell where the current bus location was and wanted accurate times. Another big feature participants wanted was to know the duration of the trip. They believed having the fare information was a nice-to-have feature but not really a need-to-have feature. So the cost information will not be part of this scope but will be a good feature to include for future iterations.
After conducting the competitive analysis, user surveys and interviews, I created user personas to fully understand what the users are looking for and how they currently feel. I also wanted to create a user story to see which tasks were considered the highest priority by the participants. This would allow me to stay focused on the most important features that users wanted to see in their bus app to be happy.
Age: 27
Occupation: Student
Core Needs: Need to find reliable channel to get her bus routes and plan them out
See current bus location
The price of service is very important
Be able to schedule out bus routes ahead of time
Frustrations: Has missed few morning classes due to unreliable bus schedule
Cannot afford to take Uber/Lyft on a regular basis due to high cost
Roommates aren't available able to give her a ride everyday since they have work
Not having a reliable mode of transportation is difficult when going on job interviews
Age: 33
Occupation: Teacher
Core Needs: Need to find reliable channel to get her bus routes and plan them out
View all transportation options
The price of service is very important
Be able to schedule out bus routes ahead of time
Frustrations: Has missed few important appointments due to unreliable bus schedule
Cannot afford to take Uber/Lyft on a regular basis due to high cost
Doesn't have any family close by to ask for help
User Stories
The user stories align with the client requirements, where users want to be able to save their work and look for inspirations and search for particular project types. For a full list of the user stories, I have included a link below. But for the purpose of this project, we will only be looking at our high importance list.
For complete user stories, click the link below:
Full User Stories
Next, based on my research, user personas and user stories I began by creating a user flow and building wireframes. I began the process by sketching out some ideas using pen and paper, then moved on to building a digital wireframe in Figma.
Prototype
Lastly, I took all the feedback from my testers, mentor and graders and began working on the prototype.
Based on the usability testing I learned that the app was easy to use and people really liked the color choices. They said it was “easy on the eyes”.
One of the biggest takeaways for me doing this project was that there will be LOTS of iterations. Some small, some big, but no matter the size of the update, it is always good to save the past iterations. It helps you understand your process better.
