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Team

Sahana Bala, Amy Fei, Emaline Frey, Jack Myers, Linh Pham, Anderson Tsan, Mikaela Thompson, Kaylee Young, Joy Zhang

Timeline

January 2024 - May 2024

Background

​CityBus is the primary public transportation system utilized by the communities of Lafayette, West Lafayette, Purdue University students. CityBus provides bus services to, from, and around the university campus and other key locations within the region.

 

For this project, my team and I worked with Key Lime Interactive to evaluate and improve the experience of the CityBus service.

Problem

Despite its accessible service to the communities, riders often report frustrations with CityBus's service

Goal

Our goal is to discover how the CityBus service as a whole can be improved and how ridership across different user segments can be increased

How Did We Approach the Problem?

To better understand the CityBus experience, our team conducted comprehensive research, blending digital and physical touchpoints*. We focused on:

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  1. Identifying the CityBus service's channels and touchpoints, from planning a trip to completing it.

  2. Locating and prioritizing touchpoints and pain points that has the most opportunity for design.

  3. Designing for the identified opportunities for impactful results.

* Touchpoint: key moments a user experience and interact with that shape the experience

Understanding the CityBus Experience

How is the CityBus Service being Used Currently?

Observation

To identify the channels and touchpoints users are interacting with, me and my team conducted field observations on three commonly taken bus routes to directly gather first hand insights and data.

Me and my team categorized the end-to-end journey riding CityBus into seven steps, with each of the steps involving different channels and touchpoints.

Plan Route

Locate Bus Stop

Wait for Bus

Board Bus

Ride Bus

Exit Bus

Post Ride

Online Reviews

To further understand how users interact with the CityBus service, me and my team looked into users’ opinions on the CityBus service through online forums and social media platforms. Additionally, me and my team researched online reviews of the MyCityBus App on both AppStore and Google Play store to discover what pain points users are experiencing.

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The app is always buggy.

...the bus just doesn’t show up to a stop, just totally disappears on the map...

I'm missing my morning classes because of the app.

Terrible app with various inaccuracies.

With the three observations and secondary research, me and my team noted down some highlights and surface-level pain points throughout the bus riding experience.

Highlights

  • Live bus tracking allow users to locate the bus easily on the MyCityBus app
     

  • Stop request cord in the bus is intuitive

    • the subsequent LED sign and audio cue communicate to the user clearly​
       

Surface Level Pain Points

  • Unintuitive and confusing app

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  • Bus times ​are inaccurate 

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  • Inconsistent bus stops

    • some bus stops are equipped with shelters

    • some stops do not have any signs​

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  • Lack of information at bus stops

    • bus stop does not provide route map, time tables, etc.​

Understanding the CityBus Experience

Where and How are Riders Struggling with CityBus ?

To dive deeper into the highlights and surface level pain points and to locate the touchpoints and areas that needed the most improvement, usability test sessions were conducted to validate previous findings and to identify how users interact with the MyCityBus App. On top of that, contextual inquiries were conducted to understand the problems and frustrations users face in a real life scenario.

Usability Testing

Me and my team created a scenario for the participants to complete in this task-based usability testing. The results from multiple sessions overlapped with online reviews and also revealed more usability issues.

Inconsistent Information

  • multiple sources of time information throughout the app causes confusion for riders

Overcrowded Information

  • the amount of information is overwhelming for users to find relevant information

Lack of Backtracking

  • users needed to return to the menu whenever they want to use another feature

  • participants needed to use universal back gestures (available only on Android devices)

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Contextual Inquiry

After understanding the issues within the MyCityBus App, me and my team conducted contextual inquiries to understand user frustrations in the actual bus-riding experience and to explore potential design opportunities.

With nine separate sessions, we found that...

Sub-Optimal Physical Touchpoints

  • riders mainly interacted with physical touchpoints such as the LCD display, stop-request chord, and the passenger announcement system

  • these physical touchpoints are sometimes inconsistent and unclear, especially for new riders​​

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limited information at bus stops

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visual and audio cues can be hard to notice when bus is crowded

Over-Reliance on Mobile App

  • Due to the shortcomings of physical touchpoints, most users can only acquire information from the mobile app, from finding bus stops to checking when to get off

  • creates a dependency on digital rather than environmental guidance

Locating and Prioritizing Pain Point

Physical Bus Stops or Digital App?

​​After uncovering pain points in both the physical and digital aspects of the CityBus experience, me and my team arrive at a forked road:

  1. Physical Direction - design for the physical bus stops to increase communication and decrease reliance on mobile app

  2. Digital Direction - revise the MyCityBus app to improve usability and navigation

To answer this question, me and my team conducted Guerilla Testing and User Surveys to gather both qualitative and quantitative insights on what frustrates users the most.

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Likert Scale of User Survey Results

* Total score calculated by multiplying "Very Frequent" by score of 3, "Somewhat Frequent by score of 2, and "Not Frequent" by score of 1.

Data showed that the main frustrations revolve around the mobile app and lack of communication.

CEO Interview
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On top of our prioritization methods, my team had the chance to interview the CEO of CityBus, Mr. Brian Smith. He mentioned that due to funding and regulations from the city and the university, there has been obstacles in improving/renovating the bus stops. Mr. Smith suggested to focus on the mobile app as this option is most viable.

Designing for Impact

Final Designs

To design for the identified opportunities, me and my team centered our designs around two goals

  1. Ensure clear communication with the mobile app

  2. Improve navigation and usability with the mobile app

Home Screen

  • map-centered home screen

  • allow users to see bus routes at a glance

  • quick access to search for destination

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Routes

  • color-coded bus route options

  • displays bus direction

  • option for users to pin/favorite bus route

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Trip Options and Directions

  • displays all available bus routes with time estimates for walk times and bus ride

  • step-by-step guide for entire trip

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Live Notifications

  • reduce user's need to constantly check the map

  • shows real-time bus location

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  • disembark reminder when arriving at destination

    • shows remaining stops​

    • shows time left to destination​

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  • bus arrival notification when waiting at bus stop

    • communicates bus arrival time

    • shows bus status (on time/late)​​

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