Plan, navigate,
and track your transit in
real-time.
Plan, navigate,
and track your transit
in real-time.
SUMMARY
User Experience Design
Have you ever tried consistently relying on a city bus to arrive during the expected time frame? If so, my guess is that you were literally left standing in the rain and more than frustrated when the bus didn’t arrive on time. Wouldn’t it be better if you could track your bus in real-time? Busy Bus allows users to get step by step directions, plan a route, and most importantly get real-time predictions on when your bus will arrive. The addition of real-time tracking to this application required research to find out what bus riders were looking for when designing the real-time feature. Here is a look at what we discovered…
RESEARCH
Surveys
Of 30 people surveyed only 5 used public transportation
(16%). When asked why they don’t use public transit reasons
include: “takes a long time, too many stops, have a car, and inefficient” were all reasons people don’t use public transit. Of those who use public transit 100% use a mobile app and 100% of respondents said using a real-time feature was the reason they use an app.
Of 30 people surveyed only 5 used public transportation (16%). When asked why they don’t use public transit reasons include: “takes a long time, too many stops, have a car, and inefficient” were all reasons people don’t use public transit. Of those who use public transit 100% use a mobile app and 100% of respondents said using a real-time feature was the reason they use an app.
100%
16%
Use navigation app
for real-time feature
Use public transportation
Use navigation app for real-time feature
PROBLEM
-
Users were unable to track buses in real-time.
-
It was unclear in what order buses would arrive.
-
Searching for a location required navigation back to the home screen.
SOLUTION
-
The app lists arriving buses and includes the time in which each bus will arrive.
-
The arriving bus is listed in order from the bus that will arrive first to last.
-
A search bar was added to easily access a new location. An easy to access “back” arrow was included so users can easily navigate to a previous screen.
WIREFRAMES
Wireframes were used to test and make decisions about the final layout. Color additions were requested to make the “go” button more visible. After several changes and screen configurations, all users involved in testing selected the appropriate buttons for entering the destination, selecting the appropriate bus, and finding the arrival times.
Conclusion
Busy Bus was already an excellent app for those who use bus transportation. However, it was missing a critical real-time feature that people needed in order to conveniently track buses. We were able to successfully add the feature in a way that did not disrupt prior design features. Bus riders can now easily track their buses by arrival times. New search features were also added to the design to make searching for new locations easier without having to revisit the home screen. This project was very specific and forced me as a designer to work within the tight parameters of an already developed product where a few minor tweaks were necessary.
