OVERVIEW
The growing city of Kenosha, WI depends on a reliable transit system. Unfortunately, the user experience has not evolved to accommodate the technological advances that riders crave.
I was asked take a user centered approach to evolve the Breezy Bus transit system in order to deliver a delightful customer experience when using the public bus.
SO, WHAT'S THE PROBLEM?
In addition to transit information only being posted on their website and at bus stops, the transit system identified a major area that needs improvement – figure out how to make buses easily identifiable when routes intersected at the same bus stop.
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MY ROLE
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I had the opportunity to conduct research on the project, as well as develop and prototype solutions for a better user experience using the Breezy Bus public bus system. Responsibilities included: user research, concept ideation, designing user flows, visual design, prototyping, user testing, incorporating user feedback into design.
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TARGET AUDIENCE
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Since we are creating an app to track the bus, our target users are mobile savvy.
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THE SOLUTION​
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Make buses easily identifiable when routes intersected at the same bus stop
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Notify the rider if there was a status change for their bus
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Ability to add favorite destinations
RESEARCH
A user centered design process was followed to develop the Breezy Bus MVP prototype.
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Competitor analysis
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User research
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User flow
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Wireframes/mockups
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Branding
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Prototypes
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User testing results
COMPETITOR ANALYSIS
A SWOT analysis was used to analyze the competitive landscape of three popular transit apps. This was used to identify app strengths and weaknesses and a possible competitive edge.
Takeaway: With the amount of content available to display within the app, it was important to keep a clean and simple style to prevent cognitive overload.
50% of survey respondents said school was their primary destination.
USER RESEARCH: SURVEY
A public transportation survey was used to understand how riders experience public transportation. Results showed that a large amount of riders are students who take the bus to school. Key findings::
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50% of riders want to be notified if the bus is running late
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50% of riders said it was important that the bus is easy to identify
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75% of riders said that their biggest complaint is that the bus is unreliable
MEET ELLIE
Based on the responses from the survey and interview feedback, I decided to create a prototype for Ellie – a sophomore in high school – and transcribe her journey to identify pain points and opportunities.
ELLIE'S JOURNEY
We followed a typical bus ride experience and documented pain points and opportunities along the way.
USER FLOW & VISUALS
High profile users stories and user flows were developed based on the project brief and research feedback.
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As a bus rider, I want to know when my bus is arriving at the Wash & State bus stop, so I can calculate how much time I have to reach the bus stop
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As a bus rider, I want to know the next bus arriving at the Wash & State bus stop, so that I don’t rush to the bus stop if it is not my bus.
3.
As a bus rider, I want the ability to view future arrival times for any of the seven bus lines (serving Wash & State), so that I know when my bus arrives.
SETTING THE MOOD
Due to the amount of information available within the app, I wanted to keep a clean look with a softer feel to instill comfort for the user.
LOOK & FEEL
Clean type and the use of “eco” colors emphasize the Breezy Bus initiative of being eco-friendly.
During in-person testing, four scenarios were given to the user with a specific tasks to complete.
SCENARIO 1
You take the blue line to school and one of the stops is at Wash & State. It’s always busy at this stop, and there always seems to be confusion due to the amount of bus lines that stop there. You need to confirm that your bus is on time at Wash & State bus station.
THE GOOD
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Task completed
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Status shown on screens
NEEDS IMPROVEMENT
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Location of GO wasn’t intuitive
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Add arrival times to Blue Line overview
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Unresponsive maps were confusing
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Back buttons hard to see / not linking
SCENARIO 2
It’s always busy at the Wash & State bus stop. You’d like to see the different buses that arrive at this stop so there’s no confusion when yours arrives.
THE GOOD
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Task completed
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Easily see different bus stations
NEEDS IMPROVEMENT
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Confused by bus line “dots”. Needs label.
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Location of GO wasn’t intuitive.
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Add real arrival times / distances instead of placeholders
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Need confirmation screen once route has started
SCENARIO 3
Imagine you need to quickly access directions to your mother’s house from your current location. You’re in a rush, so you need to find the quickest route available and be alerted when your bus is near.
THE GOOD
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Clean layout, liked icons
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Notification popup was nice
NEEDS IMPROVEMENT
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Map of transit irrelevant
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Wanted to search for address first
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Fastest route wasn’t immediately clear
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Unclear how to start route / GO placement not intuitive
SCENARIO 4
You go to your mothers house often and get tired of plugging in her address. How do you save it for easy access in the future?
THE GOOD
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Clean layout, liked icons
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Favorites popup was nice
NEEDS IMPROVEMENT
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Where to add to favorites
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Back button visibility / linking
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Navigation bar not linking
User feedback indicated that people found that the flow needed to be streamlined between navigation points. There was also an opportunity to update the features and frame additions within the design to clarify arrival times with easier navigation to add favorites.
The outcome of the redesign was that riders felt they had more control within the app and greater trust in Breezy Bus.
Future opportunities: Enhance graphics and animation, add location / status share
