A transit app built to suit the special and everyday needs of bus riders in Redding, CA.
As an assignment for completing coursework for Bethel School of Technology, this project began with the idea to create an improved digital experience for Redding, California’s local metro system (called RABA) in order to promote the use of public transit. Being a small town, the digital experience was understandably not extensive. A website with minimal features existed, recommending that riders use a third-party mobile app if they wanted to view real-time bus tracking.
In approaching this task, research was chosen to be the first course of action. However, the scope of research participants that fit the study’s criteria was limited and therefore a challenge was presented. How might a solution for improvement be found if there is limited access to large quantities of users?
Since finding a high quantity of users would difficult within the constraints of the research timeline, employing a variety of methodology was decided as the best path forward. Across the various reseach methods used, much insight was gained into the needs and struggles of users with the current digital experience.
Transit riders are frustrated with the amount of effort required to ride on an already limited bus system. The digital and physical experiences lack clarity of information which makes it hard for users to make decisions quickly. Many riders also mentioned frustration with the limited service hours and payment methods.
If any solution was to truly meet the needs of the user, it would have to be built into the solution from the very beginning. The key here was to reduce user effort by providing multiple points of access to key tasks and placing helpful information throughout the design. Additions were made to base features to give users more choice and freedom with things like payments and scheduling. These additions included a digital payment and fare feature as well as options to plan routes by calendar event or other local events.
Shown above is the task flow for an user once they launch a route. The thing to notice within this flow are the display pages. Emphasis has been heavily placed on clear, persistent communication of information; making this an experience where users aren’t required to think about what to do next.
Riding the bus shouldn't be complicated. Including plenty of key information throughout the product just makes things easier for users.
Why bother with the change when you could purchase your bus fare online? With RABAride, users now have that capability where they didn't previously.
Where our users felt limited before in what they could do after the bus stopped running, we’ve given them the ability to plan ahead for events that are happening in their area. Now they are free to see when things are happening so that they can plan their day to make sure they don’t miss out on that party.
When I started this project, I never could have anticipated how well this approach to research would have served the project. If fewer methods had been chosen, the outcome of this project wouldn’t have been able to benefit from the wide breadth of knowledge gained.
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