Q: Why/when did you first start using the bus?
A: first day of school freshman year fall 2018
crossed the street didn't go to her exact location
don't have a car or a license // HAVE to take the bus to get here
says parking is awful - the bus is a great experience - only ever had one bad experience 7-10
downfall have to schedule everything around the buss and its inconsistent
has a "racist" experience
Q: Was there anything that was intimidating about using the bus system?
A: learning the schedule - completely new experience and new place
had to learn what areas to get on and off
Q: What is the biggest reason you would stop using the bus if you had another option?
A: being on my own schedule - a lot a late interaction with the bus - esp at the beginngin of the semester - due to an excess of students the bus is too full - less than 10 experiences not a majority
Q: What is the main source of information you rely on when using the bus?
A: the app - its really helpful , its hard to navigate at times, its more or less accurate on locations of the bus
I would add more helpful features - where you are and where you need to be and what route to take - a more personalized experience
its hard to find a location on the map itself you have to cross reference with google maps
Q: How long did it take you to feel confident in using the bus?
A: a couple weeks to a month
now I feel comfortable adjusting routes - a couple months for that - adding on new routes became a lot more complicated.
Q: Any stories about the bus system?
A: the times I have enjoyed taking the bus with friends or roommates is nice because of company - not a whole lot of bad experiences besides prior
Conducting these interviews was a bit harder than I imagined. I saw myself create questions with the intention of getting the answer I wanted that support the research my group and I did. I think this defeats the purpose of an interview; to be honest and real. That's the reason we talked to real people, right?
Our interviewers did have a lot to say, though. The bus system is something that my group and I quickly realized was a campus-wide issue, and we were not the only ones noticing it. We did not talk to a single bus user that has all positive things to say. They, of course, were thankful for the free transportation, but definitely emphasized the lack of reliability that the whole system had.
Talking to these real-life, experienced users had the research we had done come to life because now we had faces to put to the issue - people who experience these downfalls of the system first hand. Personally, I think these interviews made me more passionate about finding a solution to rework this system, and I think I can say the same for my group partners.