One of Toronto's many options of public transport. Why we chose to re-design it?
Team Project with my fellow designer friends: Esteban Poblano and Mariana Mejia
One thing all the members of this team have in common is that we all are immigrants from Latin America. Upon this personal experience using this service, we find that it can be confusing and overwhelming at certain key user touch-points. Considering Bikeshare is described as a transportation option for both local and visitors, we decided to redesign the bike-share app to be more comprehensible to not only frequent ones but most importantly new welcomed users.
This Service has so much potential
- It promotes healthy habits
- Environmentally friendly
- Has robust infrastructure
- Multiple well-located stations around the city
- Easy way to explore Toronto
- Cost-effective mode of transport
However, it could use some help
Bikeshare has two apps, on the left is an earlier version and on the right the most recent version, both having 1.5 stars. We will redesign flaws that they both share
Constraints we kept in mind
- Cost of the Trips being 3.20 CAD
- Only acceptable payment system being Credit Cards (security)
- 30 minute limit on each trip, and then needing to renew your trip
- Lack of communication with other transportation systems (TTC and GO train)
Here is what accessing the service is like
We carried out a user journey based upon our experience and a persona we created, called mark. We also used an emotional mapping to measure the persona's moods in between steps towards acquiring a bike through the app. This helped us identify points of improvements and tackle those with more urgency.
What issues can we improve?
No direction
The Bikeshare app only shows station locations, not how to get to them
Assumptions
The UX of acquiring the bike is based mostly on an assumption that users already know how it works
Unclear
One is not initially made aware of the limitations of payment methods, leaving the user upset about last minute news
30 minutes limit
Shows 30-minute timer until next payment but won't know an optimized route for the time and location he will be in.
Our Solution
When you first start off the app, it does not make clear exactly what it can and cannot do. Our app has a quick rundown at the beginning
When finding a station nearby, the original app only shows your position on the map and of the station. It does not tell you how to get there. We chose to provide the directions to the station in such way that will help new users get to stations.
Before, the app does not tell you how to use you bike to travel once you have gotten it. Here, we let the user choose where the would like to go, as well as the route.