As far as bus apps go, OK Commuter stood out to me for a number of reasons: it was free, it had some branding, and was limited to Boston buses. However, I thought the user interface was less than ideal and marred the overall experience. I decided to do a case study to see how I could improve this app and flex some UX process as well.
Phase 1 - Discover
Competitive Analysis
In researching bus apps they all seemed to have similar features, and cost $0.99. These apps have not been updated since 2014. Two years of poor user interface and no branding. Some featured an options for several cities nationwide, others had little icons showing the bus on its route. I liked some of the features in these apps, but I don't think any one of them were perfect.
Journey Map
In walking through OK Commuter's Journey Map it was very clear that it was confusing. Finding saved routes was easy and could be sorted into categories like morning, afternoon, and evening. However, getting to that route was extensive and then required you to hit back several times in order to get back to the home screen.
Proto-Personas
These proto-personas were created from my own speculation and experience riding the bus myself. These will continue to develop as I ride buses and see the varying people on them. I will begin asking people if they use any app to help them predict their bus arrival. Since all of the apps I had researched hadn't been updated since 2014, I don't think there's too many people using them on a regular basis.
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Diverge / Converge
There are so many things that could go into this app. A few of these ideas were based on existing features in OK Commuter and other bus apps. However, most of these are lacking in the current apps and would definitely provide a better service. Unfortunately, I can't include everything from divergent thinking. Since it was an app re-design, I kept a lot of the functions of the old app and converged on a few key feature that would create a better flow with those features, such as: a better map with more features, the option to switch between inbound and outbound, and a place to input the bus number instead of navigating through however many there are.