Project Brief

Coach USA, LLC is one of the largest transportation companies providing scheduled local and intercity transportation services for communities across the US and Canada. It also offers services like airport transportation, city sightseeing tours, motorcoach tours, and charters in North America in addition to owning more than 25 independently managed and operated bus companies.

Before Coach USA launched its first mobile application in July 2020, commuters could only purchase their tickets at the ticket booth, which can cause delays in scheduling and stressful experiences during a trip. Lengthy commutes can have a negative impact on one’s mental and physical well-being because of unpredictable changes and a sense of uncertainty regarding bus schedules. The goals for this personal project were to learn more about commuters’ behavior and to redesign the Coach USA app to better serve customers.

The Goal

To understand commuters’ behavior and to provide a solution that better allows for effortless commuting.

Design Strategy

• Discover commuters’ habits from the survey and by interviewing participants to learn about their experiences.

• Define features that would better serve commuters during their trips.

• Design low and high fidelity mockups for usability testing to collect data and further improve the app’s functionality.

Research

Competitive Analysis

At first, I tried researching the search term “coach bus service” on Google to learn about companies that provide similar services as Coach USA. I also researched companies that provide train services across the United States, since it is one of many ways we commute and it's helpful to see what services are offered.

In order to narrow down my findings, I researched more about each company that provided the same, if not some, of the Coach USA services. My results led me to transportation companies like “Academy”, “Greyhound” and “Trailways”. 

Key Insights

As shown above, there are many features (such as reward programs and real-time bus tracking) that Coach USA lacks. The company also does not heavily advertise the full use of its combined services to customers who primarily use Coach USA for daily commuting.

Comparative Analysis

It is important to research other transportation apps from competitors to conduct comparative analysis. I used a chart to track features I thought could be useful for a Coach USA app.

Commuter Survey

I started my user research with a survey of my interpersonal network. From the survey, I wanted to learn more about real commuting behaviors. 

Note: The survey had 14 participants. Since the survey was conducted during a pandemic, these participants were instructed to answer as if normal circumstances were present.*

User Interviews Research Findings

Following the survey, it was my desire to gain even more insight into the experience of using mass transit. I further interviewed 4 participants ranging in age from 28-64.

• It is important to have real-time status updates and time of arrival for users to plan their schedules.

• It is important to change or cancel tickets without being charged a fee.

• Users prefer using websites and apps to purchase their tickets ahead of time because it allows access to ticket purchasing without having to wait at a ticket booth.

• Some users don't feel secure sharing their information on apps for ticket purchases.

• Some users mentioned apps need a cellular signal for ticket purchasing which can be a problem if they are in an area with no coverage.

Task flow & Wireframes

solutions

From user interviews, I was able to gather data to identify key features for customers.

Problem: Commuters cannot track bus status.

Solution: Create a real-time status feature.

Users can view the real-time status of the bus and receive notifications of any updates.

Problem: Cellular signal is needed to view bus routes.

Solution: Create an offline mode featuring bus routes.

Bus routes can be viewed offline.

Design System

Next Steps

• Additional surveys and interviews to understand changes in behavior during the pandemic and to help redesign the app to better fit users’ needs.

• Usability testing to collect data to improve wireframes.

Project Findings

• It was challenging to come up with good questions to ask in the survey and user interview. I am confident that this will become easier with each new experience.