Bus stop time sheet: the importance of the user experience and interface.

Photo by Thomas Patrick on Unsplash

The bus stop time sheet is sometimes considered as a constraint, a contractual obligation, which represents a significant cost in terms of implementation and deployment time. Is it useful or necessary when users tend to use their smartphones to decide on their mobility? The bus stop time sheet clearly appears as an opportunity for customer contact, with issues of use and image, as algorithms ensure a smooth and fast implementation. Here are the explanations of our position.

The stop time sheet is a visualization of the transport offer, for a specific point of passage, with a specific order of presentation of the data, blanks (without passage), special cases, necessary explanations, regulatory information. The user experience of a stop time sheet is therefore very specific. Some Transit authorities have formalized a method for creating the stop time sheet (presentation charter) to standardize it and make it easier for users to consult it in a given geographic area (for example, in the Paris region). This is obviously a prerequisite for efficiency. It is then crucial to allow direct reading of the schedule, with aesthetics and legibility, considering all possible specificities at the time of consultation (market day, passage via a school, partial route...). It is therefore necessary to consider the user experience (who has a smartphone usage and information already set to his moment of consultation) and the user interface (a constrained format of the stop time sheet which must facilitate and optimize the consultation).

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The challenge is to propose an ergonomic, clear, precise, and complete visualization of the timetables, considering the specifications (or presentation charter). A large volume of information is necessary for the stop time sheet to be relevant. For the timetables, the reading of the data is obvious. But for the stop time sheet, explanations are often necessary (to explain the via, the calendar exceptions...). This implies annotations, readable information on the exceptions. The design phase of the stop time sheet model is crucial. One time sheet per line for a given stop, taking into account the characteristics of the outward and return directions, and all the properties of a route applied to a stop. The data to be presented will be numerous for some stops. Also, the data and text fields, the calibration, and the formulation (with the requirements of the Marketing service and also those of the Methods department) become parameters, with levels of adjustments (according to also the criteria of standardization).

This step of designing the stop time sheet will take the vast majority of the production time. The tests of the prototype of the stop time sheet will validate the adoption of all the characteristics from the transport offer. The generation of the stop time sheets is then automatic by algorithms, with annotations and observations. The transfer of all data ensures that the stop time sheets are produced on demand. The optimal quality is guaranteed. The algorithmic approach to the entire time sheet (content and container) simplifies production and testing to exclude generic errors. This production mode of the stop time sheet allows to optimize resources in time and budget.

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The bus stop time sheet can have many impacts. A bad reading, a lack of information can lead to dissatisfaction and negative feedback (customer complaints). A poor design can limit the readability of some important data for the user. The non-systematic use of algorithms (or partial use, without the automated generation of annotations and exceptions for example) will have an impact on production time, risk of error, control, and verification (whereas a complete algorithm, without manual input and testing, optimizes generation time and optimal quality). Taking into account the user experience and interface will position the bus stop time sheet as a marketing and communication tool, which will have a lot of impact, and promote the quality of the proposed transport offer (within its regulatory framework).