Coach

Tracking the Stops

A case study for integrating traveller's stop
on the Coach USA app

UX/UI Designer

UX Researcher

8 Weeks

Figma

Problem

Gaining Understanding

Locating your destination stop should be easy and stress free

Some of the Coach USA commuters after boarding the bus find it hard to locate their stops. You have to constantly look outside the window to see if you are nearing the stop assuming you have the prior knowledge of the route and the stops

Am I there Yet ?

Did I miss my stop ?

Constant worries for some of the commuters during travel

This feature extension makes it easier for commuters to know about their upcoming bus stop in advance without having to look at the maps or constantly look outside the window

Research

Diving deeper into the problem

How are users locating their stops? Is this really a problem ?

While trying to understand the users problem and the other means through which the users are locating their stops , I decided to conduct my research .My goals were

To exactly know when a user is approaching their stop by an in-app notification so that the user can request a stop

To exactly know where they are in their commute and how far they are from their destination

The motivation for the whole exercise was mainly

To have a peaceful commute without having to worry about missing the stop
Prior geographical knowledge of the area should not be necessary

Interview

I decided to interview some Coach USA commuters and asked them about how often they use the bus, how easy or difficult it was to tell if they were approaching the stop and what do they do to figure out . Passengers used different methods to locate their stops

General insights

All users irrespective of their knowledge of the area had problems locating their stop
All users rely on different methods to track their stop

Some passengers relied on google maps to see where they are in their journey

Some told the drivers or their co passengers to let them know if they are reaching their stops

Most passengers kept looking outside the window to know if they are nearing the stops

Finding the stops in the night was challenging for some

Frustrations

Users can't peacefully relax or engage in other activities without having to worry about missing their stop
The app doesn't provide any information on their current commute
Users were required to know the route and their stops which made it very difficult, especially for new travelers
Finding the stop during nighttime is challenging

Define

Looking for patterns and insights from our research. Understanding the limitations of the current app was important

It was important to understand the limitations on the current app and why commuters rely on different methods to track their stops

Synthesizing the research findings

Persona

The research insights helped me define a general persona based on Coach consumers and allowed me to refer back to this persona throughout the next phases of this project.

Ideate

Creating tangible experiences

Keeping the new feature consistent with the current app was important

The challenge was to incorporate the new feature that it belongs in the app and the transition is as intuitive and seamless as possible

With all the tools and research, it was time to ideate. I created a low fidelity wireframe using a wireframing tool to help me iterate quickly

Wireframe

Prototype

Once I was satisfied with the low fidelity wireframe, it was time to build the high fidelity prototype. I included the design from my UI kit and mood board and took inspiration from the existing Coach USA app to keep the design language consistent

View Prototype

Validate

Putting in front of users

Constant feedback made the product better

The feedback gave way to new features during the testing and brought out some of the gaps

Usability Test

Once the prototype was ready, I decided to conduct the usability test gave the participants a set of tasks and rated their tasks on a scale of 1-10 and also got feedback from them

Test Objective

Test that the new feature experience feels like it belongs in the app
Test if the experience feels useful to users of all levels
Test whether users can easily find and navigate the new feature.
Identify any pain points or confusion while using the feature.

Test Scores

Once you scan your ticket, can you see the status of your trip?

9.6

Can you figure out how long will it take to reach your stop?

Does the screen feel consistent with the current app?

9.6

During your journey, can you figure out how many stops there are?

Can you follow the notification to request a stop?

8.6

Positives

Consistent with the current design
Ability to view all passed and incoming stops
Ability to see the time remaining on the trip
Ability to get a reminder when approaching the stop

Improvement Scopes

First-time users were unaware that the app could also notify them even if the app is closed
For each of the stops, we could also show the approximate time to reach those stops

Iterations

Based on the user feedback, I iterated to incorporate the time remaining on each stop

Reflections

Embracing feedback

The research helped me understand some of the problems and the different ways passengers use to track their stops which I never knew before.

Since this was an extension of an existing application, it was important to keep the design process and flow consistent with the current app. I had to keep in the mind about existing design system and made improvements accordingly.

I tried to ensure that there is minimal user intervention and all the information is present on the single screen without cluttering it.

Home

Next Case Study