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Shabbir Faizy

RAPID ROUTE

Making commute experience better

ABOUT

A mobile application to improve commute experience for working employees

ROLE

UI UX

UX Research

Branding

Testing

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TIMELINE

June - Oct 2020

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TEAM

Solo​

SOFTWARES 

CONTEXT

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  • Employees are provided with bus service to reach their working site 

  • Buses have sometimes seating issues due to overcrowding.

  • Employees has no option to commute if bus misses

PROJECT GOAL

The main aim of the project was to provide a better daily commute experience for employees by using an application that is available in smartphone, reducing friction in commute from source to destination

THE PROCESS FLOW

Research
Synthesis
Ideate
Design And Validate

RESEARCH

ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY

I started with ethnographic study where i used bus service and  observed  participants in their real-life environment.

Took pictures and tried to understand the pain points that existed 

  • Most of employees who gets late by 15-20 min waited at bus stop with no info of bus arriving.

  • Most employees wanted to get home at earliest after shift so took the first bus leading to overcrowding.

SCREENERS

My primary research consisted of user interviews where I had to interview the employees that can provide me with clear pain points, and for this, I circulated my screener surveys among 20 employees.

Screeners question  had the following important points 

  • How frequently they use a smartphone

  • Commute means of transport

  • Rating for current bus service

My screener survey provided me with the important point that the employees not using bus service for commute , rather their own personal vehicle , provided lower ratings , hence made a better candidate for user interview.​

INTERVIEWS

​Based on a survey of a sample group of 20 users, I tried to get further feedback from interviews which were recorded after their consent.

A test script was made comprising of questions where the users were asked to share their experience with the service.

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      How comfortable is the commute service currently?

      What problems are faced by employees in everyday commute work.?

      What are the areas of improvement to be focused on?

      What are the alternatives to current commuting.?

      How safe and hygienic is the service in the current scenario o COVID 19?

      How would you improve the service if given the opportunity (THE MAGIC WAND)

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I took notes and quotations ,while I ran the interview script with 4 of my users. This allowed me to quickly understand the frustrations my user faces as well as opportunities for my product.

Sorabh
Paras
Jigesh
Prateek

User Quotes

The current service do needs improvement , but  this is the most plant can provide

Even if I reach from my two-wheeler till bike stand and then walk for 15 min it takes less time than the bus

 route plan given by the company includes every stop instead of giving separate stops to separate routes

 route plan given by the company includes every stop instead of giving separate stops to separate routes

Magic Wand from users

Its Human mentality to save time during commute , so most employees prefer last bus eventually leading to crowding of them.

While a little early bus goes half empty

Since the route to  my department  is very extended one it has many stops and i spend 45 min or so to reach my place which is exhausting

Lack in the tracking of bus leads to waiting in bus stand

COMPETETIVE RESEARCH

Competitive Research was conducted and inspirations were taken from applications with similar functions .​

Shuttl

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Value proposition

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This app provides commute service from home to office , having different routes for different locations

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Pros: 

  • Different routes for different locations providing good seating and no overcrowding.

  • Effective COVID 19 measure. 

  • Road maps provided 

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Cons: 

  • No live  tracking measure

  • Poor feedback option

  • Non-Flexibility in routes

SYNTHESIS

AFFINITY MAP

After gathering vital points from research I was able to make an affinity map using post-it notes on my wall, which clearly showed me how different points formed groups, and narrowed the pain points.

Covid 19 measures

Covid 19

Late Workers

Overcrowding

Commute Time

Route

Tracking

Hygiene

PERSONA

Depending Upon the type of transport user uses , two personas were created that covered all users.

FRUSTRATIONS

 

  • Don’t like to wait for the bus after work when late

  • Bus service takes many stops to reach his department

  • Buses have unnecessary stops

FRANCIS

The Late Worker

AGE: 27

DESIGNATION: MANAGER

STATUS: UNMARRIED

GOALS

 

  • Reach plant just before punch time

  • To have less commute time

  • Complete all task before  leaving

  • Avoid taking bus in this pandemic

  • Reach plant just before punch time

  • To have less commute time

  • Complete all task before  leaving

  • Avoid taking bus in this pandemic

CONSIDERATION

 

  • Can’t get a bus from bike stand so prefers walking or taking lifts

  • In this pandemic it's safe not to use bus

KRISHNA

The Punctual Performer

AGE: 25

DESIGNATION: TRAINEE
STATUS: MARRIED

GOALS

 

  • Reach plant early

  • Not to miss last bus

  • Reach home as soon as shift is over

  • Awareness of bus route , which has shortest distance and its timing.

CONSIDERATION

 

  • If late then go by walking because no alternative

  • Have to commute unsafely

FRUSTRATION

  • Waiting for next bus if first bus misses

  • Too many stops leading to large commute time

  • Overcrowding of bus,leading to fear of infection  in current pandemic

  • No tracking of bus

HOW MIGHT WE

The HMW questions if asked accurately saves a lot of time and increases focus on achieving the required goal which same happened with this project.

  • How might we increase safety for employees in the bus commute in the present COVID-19 scenario?

  • How might we enable tracking of bus locations for employees before the commute starts?

  • How might ensure even distribution of employee seating to prevent overcrowding while commuting?

  • How might we decrease commute time for different departments having different routes?

  • What can we do to help the employees in commuting who are late for work and after work?

  • What can we do to make employee's commute time productive?

JOURNEY MAP

IDEATE

BRAINSTORMING 

To visualise the final product I sketched down possible solutions. I went through a quick brainstorming session, to create multiple ideas for every HMW.

I applied crazy 4 method ( modified crazy 8 ) and enjoyed this task.

USER STORY

MVP

INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE

SKETCHES

Low FI screen sketches were made to form the base of my UI , and gave a initial look of the screens.

GUERILLA TESTING

I went for guerilla testing to get feedback from my users on my initial base design. For this, I used the MARVEl application where a low-fi prototype was tested on 3 users in their natural surroundings.

FEEDBACKS

The tracking view can have a additional feature of showing location name 

There should be a feature from where I can do quick booking

what if I book the wrong route accidentally and wanted to unbook it.

WIREFRAMES

STYLE GUIDE

DESIGN AND VALIDATE

HI-FI SCREENS AND PROTOTYPE

ONBOARDING

LOGIN

ROUTE SEARCH AND BOOK

Route searching can be done by entering source and destination details and then searching from the list with a filter.

After finding your best suitable route booking or blocking of seat can be done

TRACKING OF BUS

Booked route bus can be located in MY BOOKING section where easy tracking can be done

POOL RIDE FOR LATE EMPLOYEES

A feature for employees who gets late and just miss their bus.

taking pool ride from colleagues who own their personal four wheeler.

USABILITY TESTING

After feeling confident for my Hi-Fi screens I went for moderated usability testing with 4 of my users where the video recording was done to better understand the experience of users with the product.

Certain scenarios and tasks were prepared for the users, and they were asked to imagine themselves in that situation, with the same state of mind, and act accordingly. They were also requested to be loud while performing the task, and describe the features as they feel

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  •  Login into the app using the industry credentials provided, participant has to search for the best route available for his next day shift.

  • After knowing the best route easily book for the seat,  before the shift starting for c shift and tracks for the bus location

  • A participant is short of time to search, how quickly he/she can book from past bookings.

  • A Participant accidentally books for the wrong route how to unbook, book the right one, and add to favorites. 

  •  A participant is late for the plant due to some reason, no buses are available how can he/she take a pool help from colleagues.

1  -  BOOKING PAGE

Booking Process

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• Users easily spotted the BOOK button for booking of seats.
• They were aware that the TRACK button will be activated once they book the seat.

Pain Points

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• Users were having difficulty getting back to the home page from this page.
• Back button has to be pressed twice to get back home for any other process

   After Iteration​

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  • The booking page was made in the form of a bottom sheet to keep users around the Home page.

  • Just clicking outside the bottom sheet closes the sheet.

  • Went with my brand color for CTA

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2  -  MY BOOKINGS TAB

Track bus

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• Users found the Track page very helpful, especially real-time tracking.

Pain Points

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When asked to track their route many users were finding a tab that shows all their bookings.

After Iteration​

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• My bookings tab was provided for users to view their bookings
• The bookings had an option of view and track from where they can unbook and also, track as they wish

3  -  NOTIFICATIONS ALERT

Pain Points


• Users were unable to locate the notification bar on the home screen when the request is approved
• As a result they won’t see the call button to connect with the request acceptor

After Iteration​

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•Yellow background was more visible to users when notification alerts come.
• Easily view the call button to connect.

FINAL THOUGHTS

TAKEAWAYS

WHAT I LEARNED

CHALLENGES

  • The importance of going in-depth with interviewing the users. Guerilla testing helped me a lot in visualizing the final product.

  • That I do not have to tackle all the problems to serve the users. Trying to focus on the highest priorities saved me a lot of time.

  • I learned a lot about Commute experiences in daily life of employees, and how it serves a important factor in their life.

  • This project was made when the Covid pandemic was reducing all socializing of people hence faced difficulties to conduct face to face user interview.

  • Too much information was gathered and become difficult at some point taking a lot of time to map those data and break it into pieces.

RAPID ROUTE 2.0

  • A chatting section where employees can interact give feedback and make a community.

  • A feed section to make their commute time productive by providing the news related to company

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