Public Transportation App for Students
1. Defining Problems and Goals
Problems and Needs:
• Accessibility
Students concert around access to public transportation include lack of lighting and marked signs (also in safety), lack of seating, lack of stops in the North Side of Berkeley, delayed buses, and inconvenient in certain situations (such as when someone has a lot of things to carry or they are in a rush)
• Safety
Students concerns around safety include lack of noticeable, distinct signage for stops, cleanliness on the mode of transportation, and a sense of security when using public transportation.
2. User Research
3. Low-Fidelity Prototype
A. Key Insights:
• Confusing home screens in existing apps like Google Maps that take time for users to learn due to the lack of their simplicity
• Users prefer a centralized app that will serve as cashless payments through existing AC cards, possible travel planner, real time updates
• Users want to know when the capacity of the transport is already full (for now there is no fixed capacity limit regulation, thats the problem)
• The solution will need to provide easy search & list for designated route complete with the schedule
• The solution will also need to address accessibility and inclusivity information for the universal use
• Users find that the space distribution in the bus is very uneven and the crowd flow is inefficient
• Most of the AC apps are very outdated that prevents users to use them. The solution should be more futuristic and modern, but yet approachable
• Users prefer personalized travel planner that will accommodate their needs immediately (either they are in a rush or in a more relaxed path)
• The solution will need to have a live data of bus location and estimated time of arrival at destination. Users would set notifications that alerts them 10 mins prior to arrival. This enables users to have real-time information personalized to their needs and gain assurance
• Users prefer to favorite their buses to make it more personalized
B. Prototype:
4. Mid-Fidelity Prototype
A. Prototype:
B. Usability testing:
At the mid-fi process I was focusing on the feature discoverability and mostly observing how accessible the app features were.
"Definitely the aesthetics of the app keeps me using it more and I wish an app like this existed in real life." (This quote made me think more and ask another question like how might I address sustainability at the first place, which led me to include the carbon footprint estimator for each ride during the high fidelity prototype)
"I like the structure, but I wish there were more color to make it more interactive" (During the high-fidelity I used Figma Accessibility Contrast plugin and Color Match in order to make the app more accessible for people who might have dyslexia or other vision disabilities)
5. Hi-Fidelity Prototype
