GoTriangle presented us with a problem that needed solving. They had a modern looking website, but the functionality and interface was letting their users down. Bus schedules were inaccurate, there was no real-time information and managing the site was proving to be difficult. The existing website wasn’t publishing transit data correctly, people weren't happy and they even had to ‘switch off’ their web-based schedules and rely on PDFs.
How we helped
The Steer team took a traditional ‘outside-in’ approach to user experience research through human-centered research and iterative testing to create solutions that are accessible, usable, and meaningful to the end user. In addition, we also took an ‘inside-out’ approach to solving GoTriangle’s data management and publication issues.
GoTriangle is a partnership of seven transit agencies, each with its own set of electronic schedule data in GTFS format. We worked closely with GoTriangle scheduling staff to work out how the data should be displayed and how it should be updated. We brought on Mecatran, an expert in handling multiple GTFS files, as a teaming partner and utilized their Urbiplan tool to post-process on the fly. This took the guess-work out of getting the data onto the website and allowed GoTriangle to get streamline daily functions, such as publishing Rider Alerts across multiple channels with a single click.
Once we'd solved the data management problem, we addressed the user experience of website visitors. This involved a key discovery stage where we interviewed riders and non-riders and developed a number of key personas. These personas were used at every stage of the project to make sure we are heading in the right direction, including a prototype stage where we used wireframes to test key functionality with riders.
Successes and outcomes
The resulting website was a huge success. Traffic increased by almost 60% in the first week, and we are still seeing a 5% weekly increase (as of March 3, 2018).
“Working on the GoTriangle site with Steer the team made sure we started and ended the project with the focus on who our users are and what information they need quickly. At every turn Steer made sure that we kept this at the forefront of any conversations and decisions. Their user-centered approach was exactly what we needed as a transit agency and has helped us to launch a successful platform that we look forward to using and building upon moving forward.”
— Wendy Mallon, Marketing Manager – GoTriangle
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