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I happened to notice an article that was looking for transit problems: "2007 Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) Problem Statement Sought" . Well, I am just a working stiff that takes the bus to the job, the bus has a reputation of being almost unusable for transit, a last resort, so hey, I'll propose a problem to get some organized research into usability testing public transit.
Here is my problem proposal application, it has been submitted and accepted as a problem candidate and assigned a problem number: 08-D-15. Sometime in October 2007 a committee will choose the problems for the coming year and in November 2007 the approved projects will be posted on the Transit Research Board website.
The title should be no more than 10 words.
In no more than three paragraphs, provide a general description of the problem or need.
I am a working stiff trying to get to work and get home, raising a family in Minneapolis - St. Paul, the Twin Cities, I take the bus and it is barely a usable alternative when subsidized over 50% by my employer. With billions of dollars invested in public transportation systems there should be a scientific and system wide testing program that improves the usability of the transit system. There does not seem to be much actual testing of transportation usability which is testing people trying to get from one place to another on a public transit system, for this problem proposal "transit usability" is defined as the use of transit by all people.
Design of a transit stop or a set of navigation guides is one thing, but the implementation of a design in a transit system is another thing altogether. There should be testing to prove that the design that has been implemented actually works. Some people use focus groups or surveys to try to improve usability but observation of human behavior in transit is a method venue that seems to be overlooked, focus groups and surveys tend to give results that are not the same as observed behavior of test subjects in the field.
There are many transit usability testing areas that could yield effective usability improvements; transit can be inconvenient, hard to find the way, uncomfortable, slow, dangerous and annoying. Many of the problems are unintended design artifacts that are barriers to transit use, removing the these barriers will improve the service dramatically. A quick and inexpensive usability testing program should be able to find improvements in procedure and infrastructure that will drop barriers to usability and raise ridership and the status of public transit in a cost effective manner. Usability testing is used in many products and software systems, but I see none of it used for transit and transit suffers from many usability problems.Include a clear, concise statement of the objectives (anticipated products) that are expected to be met by this particular research.
A set of test objectives, scenarios and methods for public transit systems to test their own systems would be the objective. For example, a set of wayfinding and navigation test objectives, scenarios, test methods and the results of the testing as examples for other transit systems to use in usability testing would be an objective. Or a set of transit stop test objectives and scenarios and a method of testing the objectives and scenarios to evaluate transit stop usability would be the objective of the research. The methods researched should be inexpensive and quick to implement for transit systems to improve service quickly.
Some basic starting points to develop test objectives and scenarios:
-The people should be able to find routes to destinations.
-The people should be able to find and recognize the destination when
using the transit mode.
-The people should not be stressed or uncomfortable using transit,
and basic rights of people using the system.
-The people should be able to switch from one mode of transit, like car
to bus or rail to bus, easily and with convenience.
-The people should be able to pay a fare conveniently and across the
system with the same method and fare structure.
-The people should be able to have commute times that are close or better
than auto only commute times.
-The people should be able to safely use and interact with the transit mode.
Provide a statement of the specific research proposed, how it relates to the general problem statement in Section II and, if possible, the research approach and the tasks envisioned.
- Usability testing of the navigation aids at transit stops,
bus schedules, train schedules and maps. Design objectives and
scenarios and testing methods to find and fix problems and so
improve people finding the way through the transit system.
- Usability testing intermodal transit objectives and scenarios to find
barriers to transferring from one mode to another.
- Usability testing configurations of transit stops to find configurations
that work best and test solutions to reconfigure problem transit stops.
The above suggestions are just a few of the possibilities for transit usability. Comfort, fare structure, safety, security also can be researched.
Recommended Funding: Include an estimate of the funds necessary to accomplish the objectives stated in Section III. As a general guideline, the present cost for research usually averages approximately $150,000-$250,000 per professional staff-year. TCRP projects typically are in the $300,000-$500,000 range. A detailed budget is not necessary.
Research Period: Provide an estimate of the period of time needed to complete the research, including 3 months for review and revision of a draft final report.
Recommended Funding:
Research Period:
- 3 Months to plan and devise test objectives, scenarios and test methods.
- 3 Months to try out a set of tests of the objectives, scenarios and methods.
- 3 Months to review and revise the draft final report.
Include a statement concerning the urgency of this particular research. Identify and, if possible, quantify the potential and magnitude of payoff from the achievement of the project objectives. Any institutional, political, or socio-economic barriers to implementation of the anticipated research products should also be identified.
Public Transit, especially bus transit is considered a last resort for a method of travel by most people. Public Transit can be inconvenient, hard to find the way, uncomfortable, slow, dangerous and annoying. Usability testing and finding problems is the first step to finding solutions and improving the transit service to a public that may need a greatly expanded mass transit system in the near future. It would be better to expand the transit system in ways that work instead of repeating untested design problems. Usability testing is a proven method of improving quality in web site design, software design and product design. There is a good possibility that those results can be translated to results for improving transit systems in a quick and cost effective way.
There probably will be internal institutional barriers to implementing usability testing. No transit institution wants to actually test if their own transit system is usable, the results could be embarrassingly bad publicity and could show problems that are not easily or cheaply fixed. Without an independent testing group testing can be affected by other internal institutional factors, to mitigate this problem an outside or independent group should probably test the transit system. Of course, then there will be the problem of the transit system institution accepting the usability testing and recommendations of the outside or independent testing group. I think these problems can be overcome in most transit institutions.
Categorize this problem statement using the FTA strategic initiatives and the TCRP Strategic Priorities.
FTA-TCRP Strategic Initiatives and Priorities here.
(1) Increasing Ridership: Usability testing and the solutions found to usability problems should make the use of transit easier by removing the barriers to using transit, this will increase ridership.
(2) Improving Capital and Operating Efficiencies: "...contribution of specific innovations toward performance improvement..." Usability testing would be used for finding specific fixes to improve the performance and use of the transit system.
(3) Improving Safety, Security and Emergency Preparedness: "...provide practical solutions that work to increase transit safety..." Usability testing can be used to find safety problems and discover solutions for the specific safety problems found.
I. Place the Transit Customer First: By definition usability testing is finding out what the customer really needs by testing, maybe not what they want from a survey or a focus group but what they really need to overcome usability problems in the transit system.
III. Continuously Improve Public Transportation: Usability testing is a process to continuously and incrementally improve the existing transit system with a very small capital investment.
IV. Flourish in the Multimodal Environment: Intermodal interfaces are filled with usability problems that need testing to find the problems and fix the problems found to make transit between modes easy and safe to use.
If available, provide information on other research completed, in progress, or pending that is closely relevant to the proposed problem.
I would say the usability testing methods and work of Don Norman (www.jnd.org) and Jakob Nielsen (www.useit.com) are models of what could be accomplished, they have plenty of published work to give direction to researchers and show how to adapt a set of usability testing problems to the public transit system universe.
As a basic pattern I suggest the testing of transit systems be looked at like usability testing done by Don Norman who has a background in product and systems testing as well as software testing. Usability tests could be run as described by Jakob Nielsen, small numbers of test subjects given an objective and test scenario, a test observer records problems encountered by the subjects and fixes can be effected as fast and cheaply as possible. Heuristic analysis by usability interface designers and testers should be able to get some basic test scenarios objectives and testing methods to quickly point out easy to find and fix usability problems in the transit systems.
In transportation a usability study of transit websites was done: usability guidelines for transit websites by testing. The point of this problem statement is to extend the usability testing to the rest of the transit system: intermodal transfers, signs, maps, navigation and wayfinding, transit stops, paying fares, fare structure, interactions with bus drivers, safety, and not just limit usability testing methods to transit web sites.
There is also research in transit called "human factors" such as Guidelines for the Location and Design of Bus Stops 1996 TRB that includes some field studies which are similar to the research proposed here. I noticed that the field studies did not check northern climates where snow can be a factor. I would also note that Twin Cities Metro Transit does not seem to follow these bus stop guidelines over the last 11 years and a new emphasis on human factors and usability is needed for transit to focus on field studies to show whether or not transit systems comply with recommended designs and whether the designs have usability problems.
A Multidisciplinary Approach Toward Improving Bus Schedule Readability 2004 also includes field testing the bus schedules by users which is in the spirit of this proposed problem.
Provide the specifics (i.e., name, title, address, telephone, and fax numbers) for the person(s) who developed the problem. Name: Steven Hauser Address: Minneapolis, MN Email: hause011@umn.edu Email me for specific address and contact details.
State whether this problem statement is the product of an individual, a formal committee, or another group.
The idea for the problem was developed through a series of articles on public transit usability testing that I have published. An article, Usability Testing Transit and Bus Wraps, may have influenced Metro Transit in Minnesota to change bus wrap policy from full window covering wraps to covering only %50 of the windows to improve the usability of buses for riders and drivers and another article on usability testing transit comfort may have influenced Metro Transit of Minnesota to re-upholster seats on 180 buses that had no seat padding. Other articles are included in a list below.
Provide the specifics (see Section IX) of the person(s) who submitted the problem and the date of submission.
Steven Hauser submitted this problem June 8, 2007.
Submit to: Christopher W. Jenks Manager, TCRP Transportation Research Board 500 Fifth Street., N.W. Washington, D.C. 20001 202/334-3089 FAX 202/334-2006