Uplift

The objective of this project is to identify the limitations of public transportation as a main method for commuting and to propose an alternative or improved means of reliable transportation for low-income employees using affordable information technology. Our interviews with the United Way, Detroit Department of Transportation (DDOT), and a social impact entrepreneur reveal the profile of low-income employees, public transit systems, and the current limitations in Michigan. Then, we investigate the factors of negative experience on public transportation through our interviews with the passengers at Rosa Parks Transit Center and the observation of the environment. From these findings, we propose Uplift, a commuter-to-commuter ride-sharing service that matches a driver with commuters in proximity of distance and estimated travel time. Not only the low income employees, but also any drivers and riders in the same urban areas can utilize Uplift for the benefits of improved access to mobility and economic opportunities, and neighborhood support.

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Before the interviews, we have developed a protocol for each types of the interviewees, such as public transportation service providers, fundraiser volunteer organization staffs, and public transportation riders, based on our initial background research on the issues of public transit system and low-income neighborhoods in Detroit. The first set of interviews was with the Policy & Advocacy Specialist at her office in the United Way, which is an organization that works as a governing or managing body of non-profit organizations for community-centered projects, a social impact entrepreneur who has done multiple neighborhood development projects in Detroit, via video conference, and the director of the Detroit Department of Transportation at his office. The second set of interviews was with 10 passengers at Rosa Park Transit Center, which is a main hub for the Detroit transit system located at the heart of Detroit Downtown. For the first set of interviews, each one lasted about one to two hours; the second set lasted about 10 to 15 minutes for each interviews.

From the first set of interviews, we were able to confirm that Detroit lacks integrated transportation networks with other transit systems in suburb, including DDOT, SMART, Detroit People Mover, AAATA, M-1, Transit Windsor, Amtrak, and Megabus. Most of them are limited to their neighborhoods and even though they have stations in proximity, the uncoordinated schedules make the passengers almost impossible to transfer to another. Also, carless passengers consider riding public transportation as another part-time job, because including the travel to bus stops, wait times, and travel times, it can easily take 2 hours in average.

We consulted with Razi Jafri, the social impact entrepreneur, to listen to his experiences in neighborhood development projects and tips for designing an interview with the target users. He highlighted that the timeliness and consistency of the bus schedule matter. Even though a lot of the public transit system adopted the real-time bus tracking system, low-income passengers cannot access to such information due to data cost or unaffordability for smart phones. Also, bus stops can be another inconvenience to the passengers who have to wait for unexpected time for the arrival of the buses, because often the bus stops lack roofs, shelters, or benches. Some are vandalized that new passengers cannot tell their existence.

From the interview with DDOT, we were able to understand the issues with the transit system, which include operational costs for easily breaking fare boxes, inaccurate data collection of ridership and buses, and bad road conditions and their constructions causing delays. He also pointed out that transit systems in Detroit are in discordance that even though their bus stops are in close proximity, their bus schedules do not work together, thus making transfers impossible.

The second set of interviews revealed more about the issues of public transportation from the perspectives of passengers based on their experiences. Nine out of the ten interviewees regularly use transportation at least three or four times per week for work or school, except one interviewee who answered that he came to the public transit center to pick up his friend. They were using DDOT Monthly GoPass, which costs $47.00. A single ride costs $1.50 for an adult, $0.75 for a student and a Medicare cardholder, and $0.50 for a senior or a passenger with a disability. Transfers cost an additional $0.25 for students, and $0.10 for a senior, a passenger with a disability, or a Medicare cardholder. All the interviewees thought bus fares are reasonable. In case of emergency, most of them rely on a friend or a family member who has a car, but three of them answered that they will ride a bus. All the interviewees who use public transportation regularly answered that the bus stops are located near enough to their homes, and the average wait time for the buses was 15 to 60 minutes. When asked about the difficulties or inconveniences of public transportation, 40% of the interviewees answered that too many transfers led to long wait and travel times, followed by crowded buses and unpleasant behaviors of other passengers. None of the interviewees has used a ride-sharing service, even though they heard from their friends and family who have used it. The reason for them not using the ridesharing service was because they think it is unreliable and unsafe. However, there was one interviewee whose friend has given him a credit for Lyft, and looks forward to try the mobile application later, which he downloaded on his phone. 10 out of 10 interviewees answered that the best form of transportation is a car that they can own.

From the observations at the site of Rosa Parks Transit Center, the average number of passengers in the lobby was around 20. There were more male passengers than female passengers, in the ratio of 13 to 7. The majority race of the passengers in the lobby was African Americans. The passengers seem to have smartphones but rarely use them while waiting. When they were using phones, it was mostly for phone calls, rather than web browsing or accessing a mobile application. One side of the lobby was a glass wall, through which the passengers in the lobby could see which buses are coming. Each bus stop seemed to have a screen where it was supposed to show the real-time of bus arrivals, but at that time, they were not working. The transit center was divided into two floors, where the upper floor has an access to a Megabus station.

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Contextual Inquiry

Personas & User Scenario

Ideation & Design Sketch

Prototyping

User Testing

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Problems & Solutions

Our target users are commuters who have fixed schedules and locations for a departure and an arrival. Based on our interviews and observations, we were able to summarize their top problems with using public transportation into the following:

1. the unreliable bus schedules that require long wait times,
2. uncoordinated bus system that causes multiple transfers, which extends the travel time to even longer,
3. unpleasant interactions with other passengers. From these key findings, we started with a user scenario storyboard and building wireframes.

We sketched our idea into the service that can

1. provide accurate transit tracking information and affordable access to it
2. minimize the number of transfers and choose an efficient route
3. discourage disrespectful behaviors of passengers during the ride.

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Key Features

• Driver’s route based on matching system
• Optimized route finding
• User verification

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