Visual Refinement: Heads Up Dispay

Concept: Heads Up Display potential challenges

Assuming that the information on the heads up display is all relevant, very useful, and not too distracting, there would be a number of technical challenges to overcome:

- how to make the display? Using thin film technology (see current work from Sony)
- need location smarts built into the bus and landmark information
- need good ventilation to keep the glass from fogging up too much - perhaps this technology could be built into the material/glass itself
- needs to be durable

Concept: Heads Up Display Use

A Heads up Display (HUD) is any transparent display that presents data without requiring the user to look away from his or her usual viewpont. The origin of the name stems from the user being able to view information with their head "up" and looking forward, instead of angled down looking at lower instruments.

HUDs have been used for years for helping aircraft pilots navigate and more importantly target enemy aircraft. More recently, it's been used for car dashboards; however, the most popular contemporary usage appears to be 1st person shooter video games. The HUD is frequently used to simultaneously display several pieces of information including the main character's health, items, relative position, and an indication of game progression (ie. points).

The most useful aspect of 1st person gaming is the fact that the game is user-centric and all graphical information is ideal for the individual. If we were able to take some aspect of this and apply it create a user-centric bus passenger experience, it would be awesome.

Some information shown on gaming HUDs:
- health/lives
- time (usually a countdown timer)
- weapons/ammo
- capabilities
- menus (to exit, change options)
- game progression (current score, money, level)
- mini-map (show relative position, sometimes radar like, locations like safe houses, streets)
- speedometer (for driving games)
- context-sensitive information (shown only as it becomes important)
- reticle/cursor/crosshair - indication of character aim or focus


For the bus, we'd implement a sparse HUD. Too much info would overwhelm the typical passenger. Just adding key touchpoints will make the displays very useful for passengers when they think "Where am I now, and when do I get off?" The POWER of the HUD really shines during the night when passengers can't see major landmarks through the conventional window. The HUD would aid passengers at night as its aided aircraft pilots.

The HUD also works naturally with the passenger since they're looking out the window most of the time for wayfinding information.

Possible passenger HUD information:
- current time
- route info (ie. bus, route, zone... etc)
- mini-map showing relative position and landmarks
- context-sensitive information such as NEXT STOP, CURRENT STOP, PAST STOP
- reticle/cursor/crosshair - indicate landmarks or other visual cues

Concept: Simple Improvements

There are some very simple things that can be done to improve the current wayfinding state of the bus. Replacing some of the advertising with route maps is a start. The media can be traditional plastic or thin film display technology. Adding route maps that can be taken home can be useful. Adding a strip that runs the entire length of the bus can inform the passenger what the current zone is, and if they change zones.

Benefits:
- route information readily available to most passengers, most of the time
- zone information available to all passengers

Drawbacks:
- advertisers might not be too happy, so fares may have to go up

Reseach: Prime Visual Areas + Lid (ceiling)

As previously discussed, most small buses do not have route information. They also do not have information that give a passenger a relative location. Wayfinding is primarily performed by looking out the window, asking another person, or researching online before boarding the bus.

The ceiling space hold great opportunity for additional wayfinding information. Perhaps it can be used as a general ZONE indicator.

Research: Prime Visual Areas

The above diagram shows very simplified view of the areas of the bus that are accessible to most passengers most of the time even when the bus if filled with passengers. (Accessible = line of sight) This diagram just shows the starboard side of the bus from the inside.

Research: Concept Materials

Wayfinding systems may benefit greatly from future concept materials.
Thin, flexible, and durable describe the future materials that will be used for:
1. electronic display
2. thin film paper display
3. form and structure

There are so many potential applications of these technologies on the bus!

Some quick lists:
- wrapping wayfinding materials (ie. real time maps) on walls, windows, etc
- bus elements (such as seats) that conform to the passenger as needed
- augmenting windows with aircraft like info displays of clarifying information
- bus passes can become truly awesome, multifunctional, and simple

Research: Zone Systems

Vancouver's 3-Zone Map


London's 9-Zone Map

Notes about Zones:
- in Vancouver, everytime you enter a zone, you pay additional fare
- in Vancouver and London, Zones are named by number and labeled with a colour
- in London, passengers are given visual indication that there are entering or leaving zones, Vancouver's system should do the same (indicating with signage or simply by strong colour themes that would clearly denote "current" and "next" zones
- Mike suggested that we could even name our zones by colour and not by number - not a bad idea... except for people who are colour blind or for people who do not speak English?

Research: Passenger Wayfinding on a Translink Bus

Please excuse the above messy diagram... quickness is the goal here. :P

BC Translink User Wayfinding on a small bus

Orientation:
- determining relative location: currently most smaller buses do not have route maps onboard. Some have "Stop Name" signs but it gives no indication of where you are relative to other stops on your route.
- ask the bus driver
- look out the window, but not useful at night or in bad weather

Route Decision:
- Currently there is nothing onboard that would help a passenger plan a route. that information must be known before hand, or ask the bus driver.

Route Monitoring:
- look out the window
- ask the bus driver or a fellow passenger

Destination Recognition:
- "Stop Name" signs and automated voice messages tell the passenger the current stop
- at the end of routes, the bus driver waits until everyone exits.


Conclusion:
The state of passenger wayfinding on a BC translink bus is very poor at the moment. A passenger must gain route information from a variety of sources before boarding the bus. Adding any sort of route map would improve this situation.

Research: Passenger's Visual Environment

It's necessary to understand what the visual environment of the passenger is like. Low Floor bus.


The photos above show what the journey from the front doors to the back of the bus is like.
The environment is generally clean, well lite with lots of windows, and there is a strong sense of colour coordination with the yellow bars and blue seating.

The floors are a neutral gray, and the lighting is provided underneath the side ceiling advertisement stripes. There is a security mirror by the rear doors (for the driver?)



The above photos show a handful of the type of signage that a passenger may or may not notice.
There are a number of signs that can probably be removed to clean up the visual clutter that they create. For example, C2 can could be removed (passengers are quite aware of where the rear doors are without a sign. A1 could be removed and the symbols could be added to the fabric of the special cars. For example, Disabled parking spots are labeled directly, not by small sticky signs next to them.



Some detail photos of what to press/pull to request a stop, special seating, rear doors.

Research: Wayfinding

Notes made from Universal Principles of Design by William Lidwell, Kritina Holden, Jill Butler

Wayfinding:
The process of using spatial and environmental information to navigate to a destination. It involves 4 stages: orientation, route decision, route monitoring, and destination recognition.

Orientation:
- determining one's relative location
- to improve, divide space into distinct small unique parts, using landmarks and signage
- landmarks = orientation cues and identification
- signage is a power tool

Route Decision:
- choosing a route or path to get to the destination
- minimize navigational choices, provide signs or prompts at decision points
- people like shortest route (even if complicated). indicated shortest route.
- maps are best for spaces that are very large, complex, or poorly designed
- may need to be adaptive (ie. stressful scenarios such as a fire escape)

Route Monitoring:
- monitoring the route to confirm that it is leading to the destination
- connect locations with paths that have clear beginning, middles, and ends
- progress should be easily gaugable using clear lines of sight to the next location, or signs indicating a relative location
- for long paths (or delays due to traffic) consider adding visual lures such as pictures to pull people through
- breadcrumbs - visual cues highlighting the path taken, can aid route monitoring, especially when a mistake is made (for backtracking)

Destination Recognition:
- recognizing a destination
- enclose destinations such that they form dead-ends, or barriers to disrupt the flow of movement through the space. Give destinations clear and consistent identities.

Other factors that are related to Wayfinding:

Mental Model:
People understand and interact with systems and environments based on mental representations developed from experience. When the imagined and real outcomes correspond, a mental model is accurate and complete. Two basic types: System models, for how the system works and Interaction Models for how people interact with the system.

Progressive Disclosure:
A strategy for managing information complexity in which only necessary or requested information is displayed at any given time. Primarily used to prevent info overload. Keeps displays clean and uncluttered. Battle confusion, frustration, and disorganization.

Route Maps

Brain dumps:
- on bus, at bus stops/stations, web
- improve take away maps
- voice systems
- ceilings, floors
- cost = zones + current time + time limit
- London zones, like a dart board, zone boundaries announced
- most buses do not have a route map
- 99 Bline has a route map, like a subway map above rear doors
- route maps online or take away generally look like car driver street maps

Questions:
- map design
- map locations/placement
- should they be more like subway maps or more like car driver maps? Or maybe there is a better way.

Mapping
- consistently orient to the user's position, or give a sense of user's point of view
- give information about nearby points of interest
- districts can be helpful in organizing a city into various sections, aiding wayfinding in large, diverse areas with many destinations
- districts (to be helpful as spatial markers) need to be large enough and known to visitors/users (ie. known to local vernacular)
-

Email Correspondence

Hi Shelley and Selma,

Mike and I would like to draw upon your expertise this Wed. Specifically, we were wondering if you could bring some visual materials (online is OK too) that Mike and I could integrate into our research phase.

Shelley, can you think about some great typefaces or symbols that are being used in public spaces these days that we might not be aware of? Perhaps there are some new innovative approaches, that may not be directly related to our bus problem, but nevertheless useful.

Selma, can you think about some human factors examples, in other industries (ie. non-Translink), that deal with way finding (ie. airport/nuclear/other). Mike are curious to see if we can cross pollinate some good thinking from other disciplines into the bus.

Case studies would be ideal, but segmented information is fine as well. :)

Thanks so much ladies!

Eugene

PS: Can we assume that we'll have internet and projector access?

===========================
Hi Mike and Eugene

From a human factors point of view, it would be great if you were to bring in examples of different industries that you think may apply to this project. Then we can work together to identify if it fits or not; and what aspects are the same. With this project, think about what people's goals are and how to most easily help them achieve it.

See you on Thursday
Selma
===========================
Gotcha. I'll have some resources prepared.
-Shelley

Bus interior panoramic

The Bus driver was kind enough to let me take some photos of his bus while he was on a break!

Photo Link
http://www.flickr.com/photos/93669236@N00/sets/72157607860796855/

Slideshow Link
http://www.flickr.com/photos/93669236@N00/sets/72157607860796855/show/

Experience 4 (9 Boundary waiting to change direction)

Talked with driver

• A: Danger zone, no place to secure oneself, seen people move like bowling pins
• B: Door push is automatic autoclose, people think the drivers shut it and get upset
• C: No route map because bus is reserved to other routes at times
• D: Voices and stops are updated per route

Other information:

1. Moms with strollers are dangerous. Think they have highest priority but in reality disabled and elderly have 1st priority. Fights can occur. Education suggested.
2. Education about passenger etiquette would be a breathe of fresh air. Buzzer newsletter?
3. Really drunk are hopeless, they just come in for shelter.
4. Affirmation of Stop a good idea.
5. I feel sick after writing in a moving bus.
6. Ads get prime realestate and safety signage gets left overs - shameful.
7. Window views great from back.
8. Lots of unnecessary stickers with essentials like route map missing.
9. Driver is very friendly and helpful.
   

Experience 3 (9 Boundary, Commercial to Boundary)

Oct. 7
4pm

- noticed small schedule on pole - too small for elderly or people with eye problems?
- wheel chair passenger waiting
- smell of delicious bbq ribs somewhere...
- bus arrives on time
- people allow wheelchair passenger to enter 1st
- bus ramp extends for wheelchair, then collapses once wheelchair boarded
- wheel chair securing appears quick, less than a minute or two?
- sit at back of bus
- notice young mom with child at back of bus, she stands with stroller, purse, and bag. child sits. bus packed
- lots of useless signage "Exit by the rear doors" with ultra small type"
- stop request (button or string) makes BING sound
- automated voice announcing stops difficult to hear at times
- two displays for stop requested, on electronic with stop name, the other just plastic
- at stop, two more BING BING sounds
- ER exit on ceiling
- comfortable at the back, with lots of leg room, difficult to exit if person sitting next to me
- temperature comfortable
- don't notice engine noise
- feels safe, most people look comfortable, content

Experience 2 (99 Express, Cambie to Broadway)

Oct. 7, 3:45pm
99 Express (Eastbound)

- weather - cool but sunny, 14C-ish
- had to read ticket machine for cost of trip while people waited behind me to board
- paid $3.75 cash, had to wait for operator to press a button to get a ticket - unexpected
- at Main St., passengers at the back yelled "OPEN THE DOOR". bus was in traffic and close to the stop but the driver can't open the doors until after the bus is parallel with the sidewalk (confirmed this safety aspect)
- talked with lady in front of bus, seated in older people seating - she enjoys Translink, especially the Skytrain
- expected to take to Lougheed but only goes to Broadway Station now - confusing since you can take a 99 Bee line from Lougheed to UBC. unexpected asymmetry.
-temperature comfortable, clean but packed
- no route map noticed
- driver is calm even with busy bus

Research: Low-Floor Transit Buses

Info reference: TCRP Synthesis 2 - Transportation Research Board, National Research Council

Low-Floor buses are relatively new to North America. They've been used in Europe for a long time and have slowly made there way to Canada and the USA over the past 15 years. High-Floor buses actually provide more passenger capacity but are more difficult to board and exit.

Low-Floor buses primarily address the problem of difficult access (boarding and exiting).












Key Points:
- A way to provide more user-friendly access for ALL passengers - adults, people with disabilities, seniors, children, parents with strollers, people with packages.
- remove unreliable wheel chair lifts, replace with ramps
- reduce stop dwell times by achieving faster boarding an exiting times
- rear of the bus more inviting for standees
- passenger feedback overwhelmingly positive
- boarding/alighting easier and faster

Drawbacks
- fewer seats for passengers (5-7 seats less, depending on actual bus size and configuration)
- time to maneuver a wheelchair to a secure location take a bit longer
- comment: insufficient space for most persons who user walkers, wheelchairs, guide dogs, and other mobility aids to enter and travel down the aisles (thus, seating for these people are at the front of the bus)

Potential areas for Research
- increase passenger seating capacity (deals with bus structure, axles etc)
- reduction in dwell times (boarding, fare collection system)
- development of level-boarding systems (raised platforms to level with the bus)

Questionnaire about passengers:
1. Do pasengers have difficulty in reaching the fare box?
2. Do passengers have difficulty with the interior steps?
3. Do passengers object to rearward facing seats?
4. Is there a seat availability issue/concern?
5. Do passengers have difficulting in using the seats on pedestals?
6. Any noise issues (ie. engine)?
7. Do passengers find the window view satisfactory?
8. Are teh wheelchair securement locations satisfactory?

ZEN and the Art of Public Transportation

Imagination is a powerful tool to get you going in a particular direction. I was interested to hear what Selma and Shelley thought in terms of the Zen of Public Transportation (PT). Here's a summary:

Selma Zen
- I know where I am now
- I know where I have to get off

Shelley Zen
- bus arrives 30 sec after waiting for it
- I get a seat
- no crazies

Even though Selma and Shelley have different views about Zen PT, I think most people want a balance between UTILITY and EXPERIENCE. Selma's view is purely UTILITY (or functional) where as Shelley's view is more EXPERIENCE. After poking around the web, reading some articles, and thinking about Zen PT some more, I've narrowed Zen PT down to 4 points:


ZEN PT
1. Ease of use (experience)
2. Effectiveness (utility)
3. Comfort (experience)
4. Aesthetics (experience)

ZEN PT Elaborated
1. Ease of use (experience)
- easy to use for a variety of people, of varying degrees of experience?
- are schedule and route information easy to understand?
- easy to get on/off, get a ticket?
- easy to get from A to B, with confidence?
- an easy system doesn't require too much explanation, functions should be intuitive

2. Effectiveness (utility)
- do routes operate on time on predictable schedules?
- do visual, tactile, or auditory signals tell the user where and when they will arrive?
- do users know where they are in the system?
- do users know what to do in the system to accomplish their desired goals?

3. Comfort (experience)
- do passengers feels safe, secure, relaxed in the system?
- does anything unpleasant happen during the journey (ie. craziess)?
- do people of a variety body shapes feel comfortable in the seats? (ie. tall/short)
- is boarding or exiting a chore, or easy?

4. Aesthetics (experience)
- does the look (interior and exterior) of the bus appeal to the passenger?
- visually and tactilely appealing?
- clean inside and out?
- internal temperature comfortable?
- do fabrics and handholds feel comfortable?
- anything unpleasant? loud sounds, bright lights, unpleasant smells?

Some would argue that points 3 and 4 are not critical in the design of a bus, but I feel that it's almost as important as 1 and 2. If the bus is a dirty, unsafe, smelly, and disgusting, ridership attendance and satisfaction will probably be relatively low no matter how good the utility is.

Each of these 4 points can be thought of as 4 legs of a chair. Sure, it's still a chair with 1, 2, or 3 legs, but it's most stable (and most ZEN) when it has all 4 legs. Each of these legs affects how passengers perceive the system/bus and affect their decisions about what mode of transport to use. It can also influence everything from public tax funding to how frequent people vandalize the system.

ZEN PT is a chair with 4 legs.

Email Correspondence

Yeah that sounds like a good idea. Im going to take the bus around tomorrow and take pictures. Do you want to meet an hour before class on wednesday? so we can discuss everything before class. Im still trying to think how we can further utilize the girls. I guess we can ask shelley about type faces and Selma about our esthetics. I have been thinking it would be good if we could make most things pictures so that they are not language sensitive. we should also be considering the olympics are coming so that would be beneficial to have symbols that all nationalities can read. Maybe stick looking men carrying out the actions. very simple. anyway let me know if you can meet at 6 on Wednesday. cheers,

ml.

=================

Mike, that sounds like a great plan.

We can ask Shelley to summarize some great typefaces that are typically used for applications such as ours, and possibly some up and comer typefaces.

Selma can give us some examples of excellent examples of human factors, in other industries, that deal with way finding (for example the airport/nuclear industry). Primarily with the questions "where am i now" and "how do i know that i'm where i want to be".

I think symbols are are the way to go whenever possible as you suggest. No wonder some people don't know that they should push on the door to get out sometimes!

Photos - great idea! That will help us out a lot. I want to jump on the bus too, but i'm finding it tough to keep up with my current course load... ahhh, i'll try if i get a chance.

BTW, I picked up some photocopies from the library the other day (Low-Floor Transit Buses). It's some sort of bus study. I'll try to read it before we meet!

I'll see you at 6pm on Wed. Bread Garden? I can bring my laptop, I think BG has free wireless.

Eugene

Opportunities for redesign

Some quick brain dumps… Mike, feel free to come up with anything that comes to mind. This will just give us some general guidance as we look at other bus examples.

- payment system
- ticket machine
- clear route information for people who are sitting/standing, wall paper, floor paper, ceiling?
- signage that is not so English dependent, given Vancouver’s multicultural population
- driver breaking method
- some spaces that provide use for reading for students
- optimal spatial use

On the bus, experience 1

Oct. 1st, 8:40-9:30 pm,
Bus ID: 99 B-Line
Bus ID: Boundary 9 (Electric bus powered by overhead lines)

Here’s a brain dump of some of the things noticed on Wed. night on the bus:
- payment system is confusing, especially if you want to pay for more than one person
- ticket reader machine is confusing, but understandable for the tickets that we had
- driver is available for questions
- bus is divided into sections: old people + disability, pairs, singles, groups at the back
- young people seem to like the back of the bus, they can socialize if they like – conducive to conversation
- signage includes: street stop, stop requested, stop request strings, stop request buttons, push to open door, ticket instructions… etc. … need to make a comprehensive list
- use of colour – yellow bars for visibility and highlighting
- request stop button –red, with grey plastic around it, on a yellow bar
- automated voice sometimes tells you the name of the next stop
- overhead lights turn on when passengers getting on and off
- breaking is intense. Drivers should know better. Shame!
- lots of headphone use
- students like to read there text books on their laps, while listening to headphones. Usually they put their bag on the seat next to them if it is empty
- older people take advantage of the flip down seats at the front of the bus. They appear to take advantage of the wide 270 viewing angle (front NE portion of the bus has lots of window).
- for the paired seating, the pairs that line up like an L seem less desirable for middle aged ladies if there is a strange looking man on one of the pairs. They’d rather sit beside another person (especially if they are wearing headphones)
- slinky portion of the bus is fun, but feels unstable. Probably a big safety issue it ever got T-boned at an intersection.
- didn’t see an obvious route map, but we were heavily concentrated on observing passengers this time around

*thoughts - system should conform to the person, not the other way around

Proposed Schedule

Hey Mike, what do you think about this schedule breakdown? Reasonable?

Week 1:

• Design Brief / Problem Statement
• Analysis and Assumptions
• Research
• Ideation and Brainstorming
• Conceptualization

Week 2:

• Visual Development
• End Result

BC Transit Bus Assignment

Design Brief / Problem Statement

• Goals & Objectives: Analyze the interior design of a BC transit bus. Determine aspects of the bus design that are failing the public in some way. Recommend solutions. Solutions can be of the "blue sky" variety; however, we will try not to make up technologies for the sake of technology.
• Client: BC Transit
• Audience: Bus users (solo, young families, elderly, couples/friends, drunk people, bikers, visitor and inexperienced, experienced)
  
• Scope: We will only look at one particular BC transit bus. We will not involve the web, skytrain stations, or any other BC transit vehicles.

Analysis and Assumptions

• formalization of strategies and direction, determine our shopping list
• there are likely many improvements that can be made to a BC bus.
• design flaws can likely be grouped in several ways: 1. anatomy of the bus (spatial), 2. signage and symbols, 3. environmental , 4. bus user demographics
• our personal experiences on a BC bus is a microcosm of the problems that we will uncover
  
• many design flaws existing in the BC bus might have been solved in other buses around the world
• Informations needs will fall into the following catagories:
• Route map
• Schedule
• Bus Identification
• How much is it going to be
• Where do I put my ticket
• Specialty seat identification
• How long
• How to ring for my stop
• How do I exit
• Misc - Emergency exit
  

Research

• summarize personal experience on the bus
• observe passengers on a bus and map their information needs to aspects of the bus system. determine if there is an opportunity to redesign particular aspects.
  
• look up examples of bus systems around the world (good and bad)
• look up examples of general transportation systems (ie. airplane, car, train) and see if any cross pollination can occur
• look up examples of information design that cater to similar demographic groups (good/bad)

Ideation and Brainstorming

• analyze found information and generate new and creative ideas
• create mood boards, positioning statements

Conceptualization

• translation of ideas into viable directions & substantial forms

Visual Development

• intangible -> tangible
• personal task to develop

End Result

• improve the ticketing system interface in the bus
• improve the route map systems