Transport Alert System“So Catchy”

Where is the issue?

• Meet Tumi

• Tumi is a sixteen year old high school student

• Who wakes up at 5am every morning just so she can make it to the bus stop (which is about 10mins away) in time to catch the 522B bus.

• This bus takes her straight to school and comes in 30min intervals.

• If she misses this bus then she will be late for sure.

• Sometimes she is early, sometimes she is right on time and, more often than she would like, she is late.

Tumi continued…

• It is apparent that this user could do with a little helper.

• And this user need not exclusively be Tumi.

• As of 2013, 912 000 learners used the bus as their mode of daily travel.

• Of 5.4 million public transport trips made by workers on a weekday basis, 20% of these trips are by bus.

• Clearly the bus user market is relatively substantial.

• And yet these users go through misunderstood issues on a daily basis.

Ta-Da!!!!

• Considering the ever increasing amount of people with cell phones, and smart ones at that.

• 81.6% of South African households use solely cell phones and internet access is highest with the use of mobile devices

• The scope of gps based applications accommodates the concept of an application that can use the satellite navigation technology to allow the bus user to accurately determine the location of the oncoming vehicle.

• The system can have the home-screen notification feature often used by apps like BBM, Whatsapp and so on.

Home-Screen NotificationsThe icon appears on the home-screen and alerts the user to the exact time the bus should arrive at the bus stop. The notification can be set to have a specific tone and will function with a locked screen.

Scoremobile Application similaritiesThe user can set up an alert system for their particular busses and the stops which they use.

Scoremobile Application The user can set their specified busses, routes and their preferred points of departure, this allows the application to calculate how long it will take to get to the stop and how far the bus is from the stop.

Where is the UPside?

Benefits for User

• First and fore most, the user has information regarding the bus location, bus routes, bus times and the stops it makes.

• The home-screen notification feature removes the need for the user to actively access the application.

• New bus users are also easily introduced to the system and can avoid an unnecessarily rough adjustment period.

More of that good-good

• The user is able to customise the application to provide specific bus information and can organise the notifications to follow their own daily routines.

• Could indirectly work to reinstate a sense of confidence amongst people in the public transport system and could make the idea of using the transportation more attractive.

• Outside of the bus system, the application ought to be capable of fulfilling the role of a navigation system, providing the user with general gps capabilities.

• Is this even practical?

Feedback from bus users

Hurdles

• What about those who do not have smart phones?

• It seems data dependent, what happens when a user is out of data?

• The older users (40+ years old) appeared apprehensive, and asked about the ease of use for those who are not tech savvy.

Response

• The truth is that they are not the target market. SMS option.

• Granted it is data dependent, however the initial use should offer enough information for the application to better estimate the bus times. SMS option.

• Set-up wizard and the bus staff should be trained in the system well enough to help passengers, and that should be made known.

Easy setup feature To combat the difficulty of comprehension that some individuals may have with products related to technology and software, an easy setup system can help with the establishment of a function standard.

Perfection? Not Quite

• As mentioned, it will be a taxing service in terms of mobile data.

• Secondly, using the system for prolonged periods will most probably deplete the battery much faster than other applications.

• On a realistic note, an application this intricate may present function issues such as software slow-downs and the like.

Thank you – Q and A

References

• Statistics South Africa- General Household Survey 2013

• www.crackberry.com – images (slides 6 & 7)

• www.joyreactor.com – image (slide 12)

• www.nightowlsp.com – image (slide 11)

• www.iphone.appstorm.net – (slide 5)