Enhancing the BART System
M Des. Project | Research | System Mapping | Ideation | Prototyping
🚀Designing a solution to make the riding experience better for BART riders.
🎯 Finding the most impactful intervention point in the system
My Roles & Responsibilities
User Research, Information Architecture, Ideation, Wireframing, Visual Design, Prototyping
Team
Me & Cassie
Class project under Prof. Jesus Garcia
Duration
Nov 2021 - Dec 2021
Tools
Figma, Miro
ℹ️ what is BART?
Bay Area Rapid Transit
BART is a heavy-rail public transit system that connects the San Francisco Peninsula with communities in the East Bay and South Bay.
🔍 secondary research
So what are people saying about the BART? Looking into pain points from online sources, as a starting point
Yelp, Google, and Apple Store reviews
These were the Main Findings:
Before riding:
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Lack of notice in delay
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Inconsistency of the timetable with the actual departing time
On the train:
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Lack of cleanliness
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Loud people/noisy
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Intercom voice not heard
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Train delays
After riding:
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Payment for parking is advertised wrong
📍field research
Going to the BART station and riding the train
1.
Visited the Civic Centre BART station at 10 am on a Sunday
2.
Observed friend’s reaction as a first time BART user
3.
Walked through the station, observed, and talked to different kinds of people at each point. Documented their interactions with photos and notes
4.
Purchased a ticket as a first time user, and took a train till Embarcadero Station
5.
Got down at the station and did some more observation and interviews to gain insights.
6.
Rode back to the Civic Centre Station
A few people we interviewed:
4 of these people were experiencing the BART for the first time
📋 synthesizing insights
Individually put down our insights and grouped them to find overlaps
After taking notes and documenting observations, we individually put down our insights and then grouped them to find overlaps.
Also mapped out at which point of the process the pain points lie and gave us an idea about the significant pain points in the system.
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👤 creating archetypes
We grouped our target audience into 3 main archetypes
After gathering insights from our research, we had an idea of who our target audience was.
Opportunities found:
1. Entering the Station (before entering the access gate)
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Make the kiosk interface more intuitive to understand
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Make the labeling of the kiosks easier to understand
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Change the location of the clipper card scanner so that it's more visible
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Integrating the card scanning process
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Make information related to the journey/BART system - more accessible, especially near the kiosks - regarding phone wallets and BART app
2. Entering the Access Gate
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Make the entering and exiting signs more obvious
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Make the card scanning process for the accessible gate more aligned with the mental model
3. Going to the Platform
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Make the elevator more accessible /easier to find
4. At the Platform
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Color code the lines
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Make information consistent across the platforms
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Introduce markings on the platform for bike areas, entry areas etc
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Show the direction in which the train is going to arrive
5. On the Train
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Increase speaker volume
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Show live-updated map in all trains
6. Leaving the Gate
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Reduce the difficulty of finding the elevator location
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Give more clarity/ map out information on which exit leads where
🗂 affinity mapping
Grouping Opportunities to find our Problem Statement
How might we make the process of getting a new clipper card more intuitive while informing users of the varied available resources?
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How Might We make information across the BART system more consistent and accessible and tie it to the user's mental model?
💡ideation
Breaking down the HMW statements to ideate
// HMW 1
How might we make the process of getting a new clipper card more intuitive while informing users of the varied available resources?
// HMW 2
How might we make information across the BART system more consistent and accessible and tie it to the user's mental model?
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🤔 ❌
However, through this first phase of ideation, after feedback, we realized that we didn't go as deep as we should have.
We then brainstormed again, but this time, we pushed ourselves to think more innovatively. We used various ideation techniques such as mind mapping, SCAMPER, and forced connections to expand our thinking beyond the obvious solutions.
Looking back at the thoughts & pain points in our journey map.
👈 taking a step back.
Pain points brainstormed on:
Ease of getting to the platform with the extra load, esp for bikers, and people using the accessible gate
Taken by surprise by no color coding of lines on the platform
Indication of the waiting area at the platform
Stop announcements on the train speakers can't be heard
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Payment for Clipper
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Awareness of train time/plan
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Access gate indication confusion
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Friction in the In-station direction
5.
6.
7.
8.
🔄 another round of ideation
Ideation 2.0
First round of ideation - brainstormed ideas on each point
Second round of ideation - on the top ideas
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🧐 high effort-high impact theme
There was one theme that had the most impact and towards which most of the ideas were leading to
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Hence, leading to Revamping the BART App
Opportunity
The current BART app does not have the clipper card integrated into it. From research and analysis, the opportunity for Integrating the Clipper Card and Digital wallet was very high.
It also eliminates the confusion for people who are looking for a ‘one-time ticket’
"How can I just buy a one-time ticket so I don't have to pay for the card even if I lose it?"
"Where and how should I pay for the clipper card?"
Feature
Integration of Clipper card into BART app, while informing people of the various types of cards available
Opportunity
Confusion regarding pricing and how much to load in the card.
"How much should I pay if I only ride once?"
Feature
Fare calculator
that automatically calculates the price after entering the destination
Opportunity
Information regarding the trip even before reaching the station - delays, low wallet value
“The station was down and I didn't get any notification so I had to take the bus to another station”
"why isn't the train here yet"
“I got on the wrong train by accident”
Feature
Personalization of Home Page, so that route understanding is easier for first-time users as well as the benefit of specific train updates for frequent users.
Home Page Detailed Features
old screen
new
Opportunity
People are taken by surprise by the names of the lines
"how come the lines are called something different? where is the red line?"
"where is my line?"
Feature
Showing both color and line names side by side to help with association
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Opportunity
Confusion regarding in-station directions
"Which exit is the closest one to my destination?"
"Where is the closest elevator I can reach to?"
"is there an elevator to get my bike down easily?"
Feature
Incorporating
In-station AR directions for people who are not able to locate certain things.