For years, parents have had to rely blindly on school buses to transport their beloved children to school. In a world where we can track our pizza orders online, the inability to check the safety of our children seems strangely outdated.

Ensuring the safety of kids poses a substantial responsibility for school administrators. Parental concerns about unsupervised rides demanded a better solution than the current system of uncertainty. The pain points here:

• Parents have limited information about whereabout their kids.

• Schools are lacking data on how safe and optimize their school bus service is running.

Our solution to these problems: A mobile app for parents featuring live bus tracking, child status updates, and ride quality insights. For schools, an easy-to-use dashboard for managing transportation and evaluating its efficiency. Assisting drivers with digitizing student lists for them to know who has to be picked up and where, getting help from a navigtor.  

The problem we are addressing revolves around the outdated reliance on school buses for the transportation of children to school, which leaves parents with limited visibility into their children's safety during transit. 

Additionally, this outdated system places a significant burden on school administrators, who struggle to efficiently manage resources and ensure proper oversight of bus operations. Parents' anxieties about unsupervised rides highlight the need for a better solution that provides real-time information and enhances safety measures.

1. Parents: Guardians or caregivers responsible for the safety and well-being of children using school bus services. They seek assurance regarding their children's safety during transit and need to stay informed about their whereabouts. Parents primarily use the product at home or work using their phones to receive updates about their child's location and any potential emergencies or accidents.

2. School Administrators: Individuals tasked with overseeing school operations, including transportation logistics. They manage resources, ensure compliance with safety regulations, and address concerns raised by parents regarding school bus services. School administrators use the product on desktop or laptop computers at work to monitor transportation operations, track live driver performances, and receive alerts in case of emergencies or accidents.

3. Drivers: Individuals operating school buses, responsible for safely transporting students to their destinations. They implement safety protocols and adhere to transportation guidelines set by school administrators. Drivers use the product while on duty, utilizing a tablet or similar device installed in the bus(instead of phones which have smaller screens and need more attention to operate) to access route information, pick-up details.

We had a meeeting with a group of stakeholders - 3 school administrators, 5 parents, and 3 people from our company - to gather their needs and brainstorm solutions for our school bus app.

Their insights were crucial in shaping the following feature list:

For Parents: The solution we considered was a mobile application for parents. This app would focus on real-time bus tracking and update notifications, along with the possibility of integrating school transportation signup directly within the app. 

• See your child's bus in real-time!

• Get ETA and alerts on the phone: No more waiting at the bus stop wondering.

• Feel confident your child is safe: Get reports on ride safety measures.

• Book rides easily: Schedule rides for the whole year, month by month.

• Get notification on their lockscreen and via sms.

For Schools: We considered a desktop dashboard for school administrators. This dashboard would provide real-time oversight of the entire transportation system, including bus location, status, and potential driver performance metrics they need to be informed about. 

• Track all your buses on one map: See their location, speed, and status.

• Plan the best routes: Save time and fuel with smart route planning tools.

• Monitor how drivers follow safety rules, like speed limits and routes. Make sure every ride is smooth and attentive. 

• Keep parents informed: Send them automatic updates and emergency messages.

For Drivers: One potential tool we considered for drivers was a dedicated tablet application. This app could provide them with up-to-date navigation features, student lists 

• End trips easily with just one click.

• Navigate with Ease: See your route and stop details on a map. Get turn-by-turn navigation to make every ride smooth.

Here you see the initial user flow we designed, in this diagram you can see how long was our sign up process to get to the home screen, and we found some other issues along the way which I explained in each step and how we solved them.

At first, our sign-up process was quite lengthy. We tested it with users who have similar characteristics, and found some issues:

1. Too Time-Consuming: The sign-up took too long to complete.

2. Multi-Child Challenge: It wasn't suitable for parents with multiple children in different schools.

3. Unclear Progress: Users couldn't tell how much longer it would take to finish.

4. Email Verification Hassle: Email verification at the end felt inconvenient compared to phone number verification for caregivers.

Check out the wireframe below to see how we incorporated the changes.

Improved Sign-Up Process:

Based on this feedback, we redesigned the sign-up. Now it's faster and simpler. Adding children and other steps happen after reaching the home screen, with clear instructions each step of the way. Phone number verification replaces email for a more convenient experience for caregivers.

We designed the home screen to be a central hub for all key actions: registering children, adding caregivers, and booking rides. Each action utilizes a single, streamlined form for ultimate ease of use. 

Improvements:

• Everything in One Place: Register children, book rides, and add caregivers - all conveniently from the home screen.

• Progress at a Glance: See exactly how many steps are left to complete in the app.

• Faster Start: Download and sign up for the app without school involvement initially perfect for exploring the features first.

• Introducing the App to Schools: Let schools discover the app through parents, making the process smoother for everyone.

We designed the app to make adding kids, caregivers, and booking rides as easy as possible. Here's the breakdown:

• One Screen, One Action: Each action has its own dedicated screen with a simple form. This keeps things clear and avoids overwhelming users.

• Adding More Later: They can easily add another child or caregiver later through the settings section.

• Focus on Progress: While we could have combined, for example, booking rides with child registration, we decided to keep them separate. This way, each action feels like a quick win, making the overall process less overwhelming. Also we had this one screen form for each action in our mind.

Our First Design: Initial Usability Issues

Our initial design, shown here, suffered from clutter and poor information hierarchy. While the live tracking screen wasn't a major problem, the home page was overwhelming:

• Information Overload: Key details were buried among unnecessary elements, making it difficult to focus and understand the information presented.

• Hidden Functionality: Usable features like tapping "Today's Rides" to view past and future trips remained undiscovered by users during testing. 

We replaced the cluttered layout with individual cards for each child. These cards will display the ride destination using clear illustrations (added later in the UI design phase). Each card focuses only on the most relevant information, removing any unnecessary details that might cause confusion.

In addition to the redesigned home page, we introduced a monthly report section for parents. This feature provides valuable insights into driver performance, shifting the focus away from analyzing individual rides. We understand that parents are busy and may not have the time or expertise to analyze every trip in detail. Instead, the monthly report offers a clear overview of driver performance, with a particular emphasis on safety – the top concern for most parents.

Check out the included heatmap visually demonstrating this issue. As you can see, in first draft only the first card received significant attention, while in second dratf both cards stand out and no wrong CTA detection.

(Note: We used Attention Insight plugin to gather this data due to limitations in user testing.) 

1. Number of users; schools, parents, drivers

2. Number of missed rides

3. Change in number of complains submitted by parents; bus delays, missed rides, dangerous rides

4. User satistaction survey; schools, parents, drivers

5. Overall transportation program cost for school

In this project, I put theoretical knowledge into action while actively seeking innovative methods. Drawing insights from various sources, including "100 Things Every Designer Should Know About People", I integrated these principles with practical tools like the Attention Insight Plugin.

Beyond theory, I learned to design for diverse user needs and navigate varying levels of tech literacy among stakeholders. Iterative user feedback was pivotal in refining our solutions continuously. Close collaboration with a key stakeholder enriched our process, tapping into their deep domain expertise.

This experience underscores the importance of combining robust theoretical foundations with a proactive exploration of cutting-edge tools and methodologies to drive impactful design outcomes.