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Ride It - Bus App

Project Type

Bus App

Date

October 2022

Designer

Thinkful project

View Prototype

Overview

For this project through Thinkful, the overview was to create a bus app that used geolocation to track multiple buses in real-time, and the user's ETA to the desired bus stop.

The focused bus line is the Washington and State line.

My Role and Responsibilities

The design challenge is the expansion of a specific bus stop, Washington and State. My role was to create an app focused mainly on that particular bus stop and for users to be able to track buses to that stop and their own ETA.

Target Audience

All bus riders for the area.

Solution

Create an app that uses geolocation. Accessibility for bus users. Other mode of transportation, i.e. scooters or bikes for rental close to bus lines.

Discovery and Research

I started with research and discovered the transportation apps had a lot of great choices, but also lacked in supporting users as to information they were looking for.

Competitive Analysis

Strengths:

Can set departure time, desired arrival time.
Pick bus routes, last bus routes, accessibility routes.
Filter by best route, least walking, fewest transfers, transit types
Shows price for route.
Can order Uber.

Weaknesses:

No estimate for car drive time to metro station or bus line.
Parking information for car lot.
Information on available scooters/bicycles nearby

Opportunities: Search option for surrounding eateries at arrival destination or along the way to transit stop.

Threats: Icons are small and difficult to see.

Strengths:

Set favorites.
Pick bus routes, directions, stations, and accessibility routes.
Search bar easy to use.
Can access maps offline.
Shows recent searches.

Weaknesses:

No estimate for car drive time to metro station or bus line.
Parking information for car lot.
Information on available scooters/bicycles nearby

Opportunities: Make it more intuitive with less pop-up ads.

Threats: Icons are small and difficult to see.

User Surveys

10 Responses

15 Questions

65% said they are either too early or miss the bus.

50% said they are ambivalent with transportation apps because there aren't many to choose from.

90% said they have a wearable and would like to receive notifications.

85% said they have a prepaid bus pass.

User Interviews

Pain Points

Buses are late and times are not accurate..png

Transportaion app does not have accurate tracking..png

Not many options for transportation apps..png

Wants and Likes

Would like to know their ETA to bus stop..png

Would like to receive notifications of bus ETA..png

User Personas

Name: Joe Gender: Male Role: Tech savvy

Occupation: Student Age: 18 Location: Los Angeles

Bio: Student attending local community college and does not have a car. He takes the bus to school every day. He lives 10 miles away from the campus.

Motivations: He walks to the bus stop and has to transfer. He would like to know how much time it will take

to get to his stop.

Goals: He would like to get to school 15 minutes to 30 minutes early in case there is a delay.

Frustrations: Sometimes the bus is early, and there isn’t a notification to let me know, and vice versa.

Want: Would like to know how many scooters and bikes are close by for use?

Name: Grace Gender: Female Role: Not tech savvy

Occupation: Retired Age: 70 Location: Los Angeles

Bio: As a retiree, Grace, takes the bus to visit friends and to get around town. She has more time and usually not in a rush.

Motivations: She walks to the bus stop and depending on the day, she may have multiple transfers. She would like to know how much time it will take to get to her stop when she has to take multiple transfers.

Goals: She would like the display of the apps to be read easily.

Frustrations: App can be difficult to read and not intuitive.

Want: Would like to know if the seating for older adults are available on buses?

User Flow Chart

The user flow is used to show functions the persona would like to have access to.

Business Requirements from your client:

Customers should see the ETA of their bus in real-time.
Customers need to know how much time they have until the arrival of the bus.

Translated to User stories:

As a bus app customer, I want to be able to see the where the bus is with my mobile phone, so that I can track the bus.
As a bus app customer, I want to know my estimated arrival time to the bus stop for my bus line.
As a bus app customer, I want to see an icon of the bus on a map in real-time.

Sketches

Here are some samples of the beginning stages of wireframes.

Wireframes

The usability complaint:

Font is small. Map is busy. Would like slightly larger icons..png

View Low Fidelity Prototype

Mood Board

High Fidelity Prototype

After ideating more on the low fidelity, I came up with a mood board and used the 'Color Blind' plug-in to test how the high fidelity prototype will be viewed.