UX CASE STUDY: SAIGON PUBLIC TRASPORTATION
1. Introduction
March 2017, I was lucky enough to attend Wizeline's UX Academy in Ho Chi Minh. Our 3-week intensive course was based around discovering a problem based on the topic and come up with a solution. This post is how I built a prototype for solving Saigon traffic jams.
Role:
UX Design
Company:
Wizeline Academy, 2018
2. The challenge
The 10 students of the UX academy had the same challenge, "to digitally improve the public transportation system in
Ho Chi Minh City".
At first, students and teachers discussed to figured out the current status in Ho Chi Minh city transportation system.
Each person must wrote down an idea, complain or compliment on a note then stuck randomly on the white board.
Then, we arranged all in purposed.
3. The process
User Research
Over the weekend, I interviewed 5 adults from the ages of 20 to 60 in order to gather information I needed. These adults spoke to me on a 1:1 user research where I had a pre-written script and voice recorded the interviews. Here are the high level findings:
+ Positive +
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Interviewees regard convenience as a priority when it comes to transportation.
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Interviewees use apps and websites daily and have experience in using digital travel products and/or services.
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Interviewees commented that bus ticket price in Saigon are very affordable
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Majority of interviewees prefer not to be amongst Saigon traffic and pollution.
- Negative -
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Interviewees regarded of public transportation as out-dated and dangerous.
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Walking and/or waiting for public transportation can be irritating due to the climate
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Elder foreigners expressed that the public bus system does not cater to English speakers while youngers find the bus system confusing i.e. bus times, stops and fees
**For more information about the interview, checkout this link.
* Problem statement *
Foreigners are familiar with public transportation like buses. However, driving motorbikes or cars while traveling around Vietnam is their priority choice. Due to the lack of Buses’ and routes’ information and different languages. Plus, payment method and the low quality of printing ticket are two others factors prevent tourists from traveling by bus
User flow
Persona & User Journey Mapping
After consolidating all the data of the interviewees, I digitalized proto personas and user flow in order to proceed to the next step
Persona
User Journey Mapping
4. Proposing Solution
* Idea implementation *
Creating an e-commerce application that allow customers buy bus tickets on their phone then the tickets will generate to a QR code. Users just open their phones and show the QR code to a scanner at the buses doors at the 1st time they enter
Sketches
After deciding to build that mobile application, I proceed to draw some rough sketches including the overall user flow.
This is important as I wanted the finding route & transaction UI to perform the core function in the least steps as possible:
Annotated Wireframes
After finishing rough sketches, I moved to design high fidelity wireframe. In every screen, I always noted the description of all buttons to explain clearly their function to users:
Prototype Wireframe
Using the above wireframe I had the first clickable prototype:
Click here >>> https://invis.io/PXMXOPWWVRU#/225969975_1 <<< Click here
A second round of usability testing was conducted. It was time present to our class (of UX Academy) our proposed design solution to digitally improve the public transportation system in Ho Chi Minh City.
5. Presentation
As a last step of the Academy, UXers are required to create a final presentation for the class about our solution.
**For more information about the presentation, checkout this link.
6. Limitation & Value
There are limitations when it comes to building a e-commerce mobile application like Bus ticket. Here I discuss why this solutions has its trade-offs:
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User needs to have a smartphone with internet connection otherwise this solution will not solve their travel needs
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Device screen-size limits how much information we can show, we decided to walk the user through a step by step process instead of give them all the information at once.
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Solution was designed for iOS 10 so it doesn't take into account older versions of iOS or Android thus limiting the amount of users
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Question about the credibility of payment method
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Still cannot solve to overloaded on buses
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No information about the distance between current location and nearest bus station
So why Bus ticket can solve the transportation problem in Saigon??? Well…
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Buy tickets in a couple of minutes
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Provide users with full information about buses, route, price and station
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Reduce manpower
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QR code is more safe than standard ticket
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Mobile device usage has took the world by storm! By leveraging existing user behaviour on their devices, we know that majority of users only user 5 apps regularly on their smartphones.