Uplift
Problem
Public transportation is not meeting the traveling needs of the low-income community members who are seeking access to basic necessities
Role
UX Researcher of Fishtank
Process
Background Research, User Research, Personas, Scenario, Sketch, Wireframe, Prototype, Usability Test
Tools
Affinity diagram (the KJ Method), Xtensio, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe XD
1. research
Inspired by the true story of “the walking man,” a Ford employee who walked 20 miles every day to work, we embarked on a search for the solution to promote mobility in low-income communities.
Literature Review
We conducted a literature review to investigate what the current researchers have discovered about the issues of mobility and the suggested solutions. The key findings from the literature review were that the transportation barrier of a low-income community is limiting their access to basic necessities and the current public transportation system is unreliable or limited to meet their traveling needs.
User Research
Interview with a passenger at Rosa Park Transit Center in Detroit
A survey among 43 donors informed about the challenges and the opportunities of the mobility solution efforts. Then, our interviews with the United Way, Detroit Department of Transportation, a social entrepreneur, and 10 passengers at the Rosa Parks Transit Center in Detroit led to the following key findings:
Unreliable bus schedules that require long wait times
An uncoordinated bus system that causes multiple transfers, which extends the travel time to even longer
Unpleasant interactions with other passengers
Personas & Scenarios
Persona & User Scenario
Based on the research, we initially thought of donating the remaining balances on the bus cards to the low-income commuters.
However, because our target location Detroit is not actively using card systems or machines, the idea transformed to a ridesharing service. We documented the tasks that our users will perform in order to mange ride requests and to optimize the routes.
2. design
Sketches
Sketches
Our solution targets two user groups: 1) the drivers who give rides and 2) the passengers who request rides. The main functions of our solution should be:
provide accurate transit tracking information and affordable access to it
minimize the number of transfers and choose an efficient route
discourage disrespectful behaviors of passengers during the ride
Prototypes
Using Adobe XD, we designed a high fidelity prototype of a mobile app called Uplift. The main features are:
Automatic ride scheduling based on the optimized match
Display of ride requests filtered or sorted by driver's preferences
Ride match/arrival notifications and direct route guidance on road
Driver safety feature activated by a trigger word
How it works
3. Share
Usability Testing
Usability testing
To evaluate the effectiveness of our service and its value proposition, we recruited one full-time employee who is a designer at an automotive company, and three students from the University of Michigan School of Information.
The interviewees were given three tasks of 1) creating an account either as a rider or a driver, 2) selecting passengers based on the service’s recommendations, and 3) rating a passenger or reporting a driver using our initial set of prototypes.
The usability testing participants expressed concerns or curiosities about the methods of members verification, motivation or reward for drivers, and sustainability during the follow-up interviews. Some of the detailed comments on the specific features are about displaying a map of the final route with pins that indicate the locations of stops or the passengers, profiles of passengers when showing the best-matched results, and how to demonstrate the impact of the service by tracking the number of riders and drivers.
In conclusion, the expected impact of Uplift the mobile app are:
Improved accessibility to necessary goods and services
Improved transportation experience and reduced travel/wait time compared to public transportation
Ultimately reduce unemployment rate and improve healthcare, childcare, and economic situation of lower-income communities.
Outcomes
Claire in front of the Uplift poster at the UMSI expoSItion
Uplift poster
Though our project did not advance to the next round of judging at the CHI Student Design Competition, we applied their critiques and feedback to our iterative design. We participated in 2017 expoSItion at University School of Michigan and won the honorable mention for the category of Community/Service and won Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion award.
Team Uplift (Hanna, Claire, EJ, and Harry from the left)
Icons made by Vector Market from www.flaticon.com
