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)
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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?

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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
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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/