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BUS ME presentation

statement of the problem areas of research prototyped solution findings from participatory design sessions next steps. BUS ME presentation. Jim Lord & Laura Schraven. BUS ME presentation. Statement of the problem

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BUS ME presentation

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  1. statement of the problem areas of research prototyped solution findings from participatory design sessions next steps BUSME presentation Jim Lord & Laura Schraven

  2. BUSME presentation Statement of the problem • Currently there is no comprehensive, bus fare aggregator for the Northeast (including the major cities of Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, New Jersey and Washington D.C.) • BUSME aims to be the most comprehensive, bus fare aggregator for the Northeast region of the United States

  3. BUSME presentation Statistics • Intercity buses carry approximately 50% more passengers than Amtrak along the Boston-to-Washington corridor • Since 2006, intercity buses have become the nation’s fastest growing transportation mode • Between 2007 and 2010, ridership on intercity buses grew nearly twice as fast as Amtrak, growing by an estimated 22%

  4. BUSME presentation Statistics (continued) • Research indicates that there are several classesof buses (Lowest to highest) • Chinatown buses • Bolt Bus and Megabus • Vamoose • Intercity bus service is the only alternative transportation that is a significantly less cost than driving • Safer mode of transportation versus Amtrak or urban transit modes • From 1999 to 2008, motorcoaches suffered 0.3 passenger fatalities per billion passenger miles, compared with 1.4 for Amtrak and 1.1 for urban transit buses

  5. BUSME presentation Strategy – Business to Business • Benefits: • Aggregated booking site • Customers want to compare pricing to get the best deals • Additional marketing and customer outlet at no cost • Provide specials and rewards  • Cost benefits: • Cost incurs only when a booking is confirmed • No sale – no cost • Free advertising of your services

  6. BUSME presentation Strategy – Customers • Cost • Coverage • Time • Flexibility • Reliability • Amenities • Sustainability

  7. BUSME presentation Competitors 1. GotoBus • Full trip experience to include hotels, show and or tours • Services are available in two additional languages – Chinese and Spanish • Search feature is minimized based on prior selection – Arrival city is dependent upon departing city • Affiliate Program • Ability for businesses to add their buses to the service • Provide additional resources such as full bus schedules • Do not inform customers of affiliates with tour purchases • Busses do not operate out of formal bus stations • Very low prices REVIEWS: http://www.yelp.com/biz/ivy-media-gotobus-com-cambridge

  8. BUSME presentation GotoBus - website

  9. BUSME presentation GotoBus – mobile application

  10. BUSME presentation Competitors 2. Greyhound • Reserved seating • WI-FI availability • Special requests – legroom, outlets • Provide discounts –military, companion, student and veterans • Provide schedule details – stops and time layovers • Greyhound offers a variety of carriers (Neon, BoltBus, Americanos, Crucero) • Rewards program • Provide hotel packages • Resources for customers traveling with children and or disabilities • Provide information in Spanish • Multiple purchase selections • - Advanced • - Web only fare • - Standard fare • - Refundable REVIEWS: http://www.yelp.com/biz/greyhound-bus-lines-boston

  11. BUSME presentation Greyhound - website

  12. BUSME presentation Competitors 3. MegaBus • Provide schedule details – stops and time layovers • Variety of departure times • Ability to easily look at previous or next day options • Provide service advisories on home page • Additional information with those traveling with disabilities • Provide information on hotel deals • Ability to search bus stop locations REVIEWS: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g191-d2224801-Reviews-Megabus-United_States.html

  13. BUSME presentation Megabus - website

  14. BUSME presentation Megabus - mobile

  15. BUSME presentation Competitors 4. BoltBus • Additional features - WI-FI - Extra legroom - Plug-ins - $1 fares - Boarding groups - Reserved seating • Frequent user rewards • Charter buses • Purchase experience is on one screen • Information window is small REVIEWS: http://www.yelp.com/biz/boltbus-new-york

  16. BUSME presentation Bolt Bus - website

  17. BUSME presentation Bolt Bus - mobile

  18. BUSME presentation Competitors 5. New Century Travel / Chinatown Bus • Daily bus between New York, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Baltimore and Richmond • Provide number of available seats on bus when booking tickets • Change schedule on same pages as purchasing overview • Provides full schedule of all buses • Disability reservation information located on home page • Site is very busy and crowded (Request use of Internet Explorer) REVIEWS: http://www.yelp.com/biz/apex-bus-new-york

  19. BUSME presentation Chinatown Bus - website

  20. BUSME presentation Developed Personas Created five personas to assist in the development of the paper prototype. We selected five identities that would provide a wide range of the population who would be using this service. Name: Beth Moore, 19 Computer Literacy: Advanced Role: Student. Heavy user of city-to-city bus system

  21. BUSME presentation Name: Susan Hahn, 29 Computer Literacy: Advanced Role: Grad Student. Travels by bus from Philadelphia to Washington D.C. and New York to see friends. Name: Brad Johnson, 22 Computer Literacy: Advanced Role: Young Professional. Travels From D.C. to NYC for freelance work.

  22. BUSME presentation Name: MacieTrindle, 36 Computer Literacy: Advanced Role: Working Mother. Uses bus to see parents in Philadelphia from Maryland. Name: Ron Robbins, 67 Computer Literacy: Basic Role: Retiree. Special needs – Vision. Uses bus to go from Boston to NYC for shows.

  23. BUSME presentation Paper and Digital Prototypers • 4 protoypers • Used the same four for both paper and tech prototypes • Selected diverse participants with the guidelines of the developed personas • Male, mid 30’s • professional • advanced computer literacy • very familiar with social media • uses a smart phone and rides buses • Female, early 20’s • student • advanced computer literacy • very familiar with social media • uses a smart phone • frequently rides buses • Female, late 20’s • professional • advanced computer literacy • uses social media occasionally • has a smart phone but does not use applications • frequently, rides buses for day trips • Male, mid 50’s • professional • near retirement • moderate computer literacy • uses a smart phone • rides buses for day trips

  24. BUSME presentation Prototyped Solution – Mobile Site • Home Includes: • Search Fares – Search for Recently Purchased, One-way and Roundtrip fares • Sign In – Sign in for Rewards, Trip Status and Go On My Terms • Bus Stops – Search for bus stops by location or zip code • Where We Go – a guide to where buses travel with detailed information on cities • Go On My Terms – A dynamic fare search based on the destination and cost • Trip Status – After log in check the status of your trip • View Full Site – A link to the full site

  25. BUSME presentation Prototyped Solution – Mobile Site • Search Fares Includes: • Recently Purchased (sign-in feature) • One-Way • Round trip • Passengers field broken down in 3 categories (adult, children and seniors) • Calendar • Promo code • Special Needs pop-up

  26. BUSME presentation Prototyped Solution – Mobile Site • Bus Stops Includes: • Search by location – a dropdown that includes all available bus stops within each city • Search by zip code – that would pull together via a Google map the location closest to the zip code provide

  27. BUSME presentation Prototyped Solution – Mobile Site • Where We Go Includes: • A Google map with pin points of the major cities • Once a pin point is selected, the user would get detailed information about each city, noting popular destinations within each, through pictures, text and reviews

  28. BUSME presentation Prototyped Solution – Mobile Site • Trip Status Includes: • A percentage based status would let the user know the probability of their trip being on time, delayed or canceled • This feature would be behind the log in • A perk of registering for the site

  29. BUSME presentation Prototyped Solution – Mobile Site • Go On My Terms Includes: • Round trip or One-way searches • Depending on the city, date range, and number of passengers selected the price slider would vary • The dynamic slider would be based on the previous selections and give a realistic range of the fares available

  30. BUSME presentation • Homepage Includes: • A search fares interface front and center • Utility links: buy tickets, where we go, rewards and carriers • “Go On My Terms” and “Rewards” logins • Banner ads • Social media access • Language choices of English, Spanish and Chinese • Text size adjustment • Login utility • Footer links including About, Special Needs, Contact, Terms and Conditions, Buy Tickets and Rewards Prototyped Solution – Website

  31. BUSME presentation • Search Fare Details Includes: • Trip details • Breadcrumb navigation (4 steps for transaction) • Sort by depart time, arrival time, travel time, rating and price • If round trip, both departures and arrival would be scrollable on the same screen Prototyped Solution – Website

  32. BUSME presentation • Confirmation Includes: • Purchase details • Share trip via Facebook • Cancellation and refund policy • Printable vs. E-ticket • E-ticket includes a barcode that could be scanned by bus carrier Prototyped Solution – Website

  33. BUSME presentation • Rewards Includes: • Available after login/registration • Dynamically generated based on trip details • Offer could be sent to user’s email or saved to their account Prototyped Solution – Website

  34. BUSME presentation Findings from participatory design sessions • Both mobile and web prototypes were easy to use • Ticket Selection • Round trip and One-Way ticket were the selected choices • Multi-leg selection was not desired • Possible add-on if locations were to expand to a greater geographical distance • Social Media • 1 out of 4 would share their trip through social media • Discovered this would be a great marketing tool (I just booked my ticket on BUSME)

  35. BUSME presentation Findings (continued) • Ticket Confirmation • Mobile version • 3 out of 4 participants selected email confirmation delivery • Barcode receipt confirmation required and could be accessed through account, recent purchases or email • Website version • 3 out of 4 participants wanted to print their confirmation • 1 out of 4 would access their confirmation through their phone by logging into their account • Go On My Terms • All participants were not comfortable with this option and would not purchase tickets through this feature • All participants liked the price scale feature that would indicate the lowest fare available indicating date and times

  36. BUSME presentation Findings (continued) • Search Features • Under 30 participant searched fares by bus stop • Wanted to see both departing and returning selections on same screen for web version • Trip Status • All participants wanted and used the trip status feature to determine the probability that their bus was on time • Rewards • Participants would use rewards for common retailers such as Starbucks, movie theatres or chain restaurants • Dynamically generated based on trip details

  37. BUSME presentation Recommendations • Trip Type • Simplify by offering round-trip and one-way purchases • Confirmation • Provide confirmation delivery by email or e-tickets (i.e. barcode) • Social Media • Should be present but not a highlight of the service • Go On My Terms • This is not a desired feature. Many participants feel they are getting a good price as is and do not want the hassle or added steps

  38. BUSME presentation Recommendations (continued) • Search Features • Provide search option by bus stop • Dynamically generate bus service depending on amenities selected • Trip Status • Determine the feasibility of this. All participants were looking for and used this feature • Rewards • Participants would use rewards for common retailers such as Starbucks, movies or chain restaurants. Rewards would be dynamically generated based on trip details

  39. BUSME presentation Resources Guiver, J.W. (2006). Modal talk: Discourse analysis of how people talk about bus and car travel. Lancashire Business School, University of Central Lancashire, Preston, PR1 2HE, United Kingdom. Retrieved from, http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0965856406000565 Mohna, D. & Tiwari, G. (1999). Sustainable transport systems. Linkages between environmental issues, public transport, non-motorised transport and safety. Economic and Political Weekly Vol. 34, No. 25 (Jun. 19-25, 1999), pp. 1589-1596Published by: Economic and Political Weekly Article Stable URL:http://www.jstor.org/stable/4408103 O’Toole, R. (June 29, 2011). Intercity buses. The forgotten model. Policy Analysis, No. 680, CATO Institute. Retrieved from, http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/PA680.pdf

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