Transport NSW
A concept project that researches and explores how might we encourage people to use public transport more during the off-peak time in Sydney.
OVERVIEW
“How might we encourage people to use public transport more during the off-peak time?”
Transport for NSW want to decrease traffic congestion on the roads and improve access to the Sydney CBD. To be successful, this will require a significant increase in the use of public transport. Usage of public transport during off-peak times are low and the development of the new Sydney Metro lines are taking too long to be completed.
The Team: Kristyn Jenkins and Markus Yui
My Role: UX/UI Designer
Timeframe: 2 week sprint
Responsibilities: User research, problem definition, UX/UI design, IA & navigation design.
Methods: User Interviews, Contextual Inquiry, Affinity Mapping, Experience Journey, Service Blueprint, Information Design, Paper Prototyping, Usability Testing and Rapid Iterations.
THE PROBLEM
“I cannot obtain enough information before riding on public transport. I feel anxious”
Interviewing various commuters made it clear that there were a number of challenges relating to how the information was being presented to people.
The most common pain points were:
• People have a lack of information regarding the fares, concessions and benefits
• People don’t want their low balance to disrupt their journey
• People don’t get enough assistance from the current announcements
THE GOAL
“We want to encourage and support usage of public transport during off-peak hours”
Our goal was to help find ways to encourage and support usage of public transport during off-peak hours. The solution should ultimately reduce traffic congestion and contribute to a sustainable Sydney.
THE SOLUTION
“It would be really helpful if I had more information about how much each trip cost”
We decided that we needed to enhance how the service information is communicated. We wanted people to feel more comfortable and ultimately use public transport more during off-peak time.
3 areas we looked at are:
• Redesign the fares page on the Opal website
• Design signage showing the fares that can be placed at stops and stations
• Changed the blue ‘B’ representing buses to a yellow colour so it won’t be confused with stand B
APPROACH TO THE PROJECT
OBSERVE
“I can’t find the right bus stand. Where is Stand B?”
We walked around the Sydney CBD area and observed how people are using public transport in peak and off peak times to look for opportunities to improve how people use public transport.
What we discovered:
• Commuters need to be able to clearly see the stand number and it shouldn’t be lost on a similar coloured background.
• The fares, benefits and concession information doesn’t appear on any signage.
Stand B and the B for the bus stop is confusing. Signage and opal card machines also don’t display the fares.
LEARN
“We want to decrease traffic congestion and support a sustainable Sydney”
We did some research about Transport NSW, City of Sydney and the Regional Organisation of Councils...who are they? What are their goals? What are their challenges?
Common Challenges:
• There are many stakeholders are involved who need to approve and implement the policies
• Difficult to prioritise budgets
• Lack of funding
Common Goals:
• Ensure residents and businesses are happy
• Promoting Sydney as a tourist destination and providing services for our visitors.
• Sustainable Sydney
LEARN
“I travel on public transport every day, but I’m still not sure about how much I’m paying”
We interviewed 10 people while they are waiting for their bus in the Sydney CBD area. We wanted to learn about their experience and how they feel when using public transport.
We met many students who:
• Travel frequently during off-peak times
• Aren’t earning any income
• Rely on public transport because they don’t own a car
What we learnt:
• People aren’t sure about how much they are spending
• People aren’t sure when they’ve arrived at their destination because the information isn’t clear
UNDERSTAND
“I have no idea how much I’m paying for each trip”
During our interviews we met a variety of people like students and tradies who share common traits.
We obtained a lot information from the interviews so we created empathy and affinity maps to gain insights.
The 2 main insights we found:
• People have difficulty obtaining information in current systems
• People do not understand benefits and concessions
Empathy mapping
Affinity mapping
Affinity mapping
UNDERSTAND
Narrowing down the audience
From what we’ve learnt, students are using public transport a lot already, but they don’t feel comfortable about using the current public transport system.
Our solution should make students feel more comfortable so they will use public transport more frequently during off-peak times for other activities. But students are just the first touchpoint for us to discover the audience, therefore, Our solution should not only benefit students but for ALL people using public transport.
UNDERSTAND
Behaviours and attitudes of the ‘Money Mindful Mover’
As we also talked to various types of passengers, like tradies, office workers etc. They share similar feelings when they travel on public transport as they share similar characteristics. We developed the ‘Money Mindful Mover’ archetype and a persona called Amy:
Behaviours
• Apply for concession
• Frequency of travel
• Manage credit of card
• Travel with friends
• Multi-trip travel
Goals & needs
• Want to class on time
• Need concession/save $
• Service updates eg. delays
• Announcement of stops
• Comfort eg. travel with bags and equipment
Common traits
• Frequently use public transport already
• Mindful with their money
• Don’t own cars so rely on public transport
Motivations
• Benefits of the Opal Card
• Efficiency
• Safety
• Reliability of services
• Comfort
UNDERSTAND
“I’m not sure how much my trip cost!”
Experience journey
We created an experience journey to capture the ideal sequence of events that Amy needed to perform when taking all modes of transport. Our aim was to discover what was working and point out any of her pain points so we can work out what we could do to make the journey easier.
Experience journey when Amy is taking the bus:
What we learnt:
• Amy found the signage for Stand B at the bus stop marked with a ‘B’ was confusing
• She had a lack of information regarding the fares, concessions and benefits
• The low balance on Amys opal card disrupted her journey
• Amy didn’t get enough assistance from the current announcements
WHAT CAN WE DO NOW?
“What solution are we going to focus on this timeframe? There are some many options.”
Hypothesis
Before trying to solve the problem, we wanted to state a problem hypothesis and then test it. Testing a problem hypothesis allowed us to develop a deep understanding of the problem, discover implications, and see if it’s worth solving in the first place.
Design directions
As the hypothesis is only a big-pictured one, we then develop 3 design directions based on the hypothesis.
Because "People are currently having difficulty in getting information using the current systems", the directions are:
1. Payment System/Interface
People don’t want their low balance to disrupt their journey
2. Voice Announcement
People don’t get enough assistance from the current announcements
3. Visual/Information Communication
People have a lack of information regarding the fares, concessions and benefits
Prioritising the solution
We cannot build all the solution at once due to the tight time frame constraints and the high cost of iteration. Therefore we use MVPs to prioritise what should we focus on first, which deliver the highest impact at relatively low cost and effort.
Prioritising the solutions (High impact and low effort)
• Redesign the fares page (information architecture) on the Opal website
• Design signage showing the fares that can be placed at stops and stations
• Change the blue ‘B’ representing buses to a yellow colour
DESIGN
“How do other countries solve similar problems?”
Before sketching ideas for potential solutions, we did a competitive and comparative analysis. We looked at how Hong Kong and Japan address similar problems and how they communicate information then we looked at various types of wayfinding signage.
2 features we wanted to include in our solution are:
• Fares on signage
• Express information clearly on wayfinding signage
DESIGN & ITERATE
“I can’t read see the white B on the yellow background”
The next step was to communicate and test our proposed solution with the target audience so we digitised some concepts which we printed to create paper prototypes of the new and improved wayfinding signage, fares, and map. We asked 6 people to perform specific tasks so we could see if there were any problems that we could improve on.
Iterations made to the paper prototype:
• Indicate the bus stops on the map
• The Opal card fares Vs the ticket fares are confusing
• Make the yellow used to represent buses a darker colour so it is visible
• Change information at the bottom so people know what will happen when they scan the QR code
Usability testing of the paper prototype
VALIDATION
“Seeing the fares on the signage makes helps me know how much each trip costs”
We decided that we needed to enhance how the service information is communicated. We wanted people to feel more comfortable and ultimately use public transport more during off-peak time.
Solutions we focused on are:
• Redesign the fares page on the Opal website
• Design signage showing the fares that can be placed at stops and stations
• Changed the blue ‘B’ representing buses to a yellow colour so it won’t be confused with stand B
NEXT STEPS
Future developments
• We need to do some additional testing of the revised paper prototype and website changes to make sure that people can achieve the tasks we ask them and further refine if necessary
• Create a full scale paper prototype of the revised wayfinding signage that we will test at actual bus stops, train stations, opal card machines etc
• Test signage for all ferries, trains and light rail
Other Solutions:
• Consider improving the voice announcements so they are clearer and have a positive tone
• Explore the idea of allowing Opal Cards to go into a “minus balance” so your trip isn’t disrupted
• Consider discounting fares by 30% for all public transport (not just trains & metro) when you travel outside of peak times with an Opal card