CONTEXT
Improve mobility in Los Angeles, California

PROBLEM
Passengers do not feel safe on public transit, and buses are not on time often.

SOLUTION
Shift the role of the bus driver to bus assistant. The bus assistant will roam the cabin of a driverless smart bus, answering passenger questions and ensuring safety

Buses will incorporate relaxing music and calming scents to relax passengers during their bus rides. A companion app concept was also designed to quickly pay your fare, and provide service data to improve service reliability

TEAM
Tarelle Butts, Kaitlin Jet, Petra Nichols

MY ROLE
I conducted ethnographic research, co-designed the journey map, helped design the desktop walkthrough, and I also edited the video, wrote the script and performed the voice-over in the video that explains the prototype.

BACKGROUND
My group and I decided to focus on The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. This is the agency that operates public transportation for the County of Los Angeles. We chose this agency because we live in LA county and it would be easier to reach out to stakeholders in comparison to another transportation agency.

Ethnographic research

To kick off our project, my teammates and I wanted to experience what it would be like to ride a Metro bus. Each of my teammates rode the bus and documented the experience.

KEY INSIGHTS

● The bus was late.
● A man challenged another man to a fight on the bus.

Journey Map

After completing the ethnography stage, my teammates and I discussed our experiences and then developed a Journey Map to illustrate our emotions during pre boarding, the bus ride, and our exit from the Metro bus. 

Interviews

After riding the bus, my teammates and I wanted to research how others use and react to the bus system. We spoke with bus drivers, along with frequent and infrequent passengers.

Aromatherapy 

In one of our interview sessions, an interview participant mentioned “People on the bus seem weird, dangerous, and smell.” This quote triggered my teammates and I to research scents. We originally wanted to learn more about neutralizing offensive odors, but we learned, that certain fragrances can be psychologically therapeutic. The goal is to use Aromatherapy to keep passengers calm, so they aren’t a threat to others.

Relaxing Music

In one of our interview sessions, an interview participant suggested that LA Metro play music on the bus. This suggestion triggered my teammates and I to ponder what type of music would be played if LA Metro considered playing music. We decided to research music therapy. We learned that music is effective for relaxation and stress management.

Designing the Prototype

We created a desktop walkthrough to simulate our ideas and solicit feedback. Our goal is to create a better experience for bus passengers through relaxing music, aromatherapy, and gaming that rewards passengers for participation.

Usability Testing

We wanted to explore how participants would react to our payment system, driverless bus, a trivia game, relaxing music, and aromatherapy. We presented our desktop walkthrough and talked through each phase of the system.

After gaining feedback from the desktop walkthrough, we used our classroom to design a low-fidelity bus environment. We asked participants to play the role of bus passengers as we simulated the experience to gain more user feedback.

Usability Reflections

• Bus patrons care about safety and buses being on time.

• An easy check in would speed up passenger loading time and encourage the bus to stay on schedule.

• Build trust with self driving vehicles, people need education on self driving technology.

• Music and Aroma can create a relaxed environment.

• The trivia game was welcomed, but we ultimately decided not to use it for our presentation.