Pain Points based on scenarios, personas and state of the art analysis.

Our research indicates that our pain points is

• crowded buses
• no vacancy where strollers are suppose to be
• several strollers in the stroller space.
• bad bus interior design
• sometimes hard to get on the bus
• irritation between passengers and passengers with strollers

Opportunities

• Better interior design in the bus
• Letting passengers know how many prams there are at the next bus
• Letting passengers know how crowded the next bus is
• Creating more space where prams could be
• Changing the layout inside the bus, e.g moving the pram space to the back of the bus
• Create a more understanding environment between passengers

Prioritise the issues for each of the personas.

Karin:

Karin would benefit from engaging with other travelers and not see them as enemies. Also plan her trip so she doesn't end up traveling in the rush hours.

Micheal is more laid-back as a person and we had a hard time finding what he could improve to benefit from his trip.  

After exercise #2

Since last week, we have finished our interviews and gathered the transcripts here on the blog. The general consensus between the interviewees seems to be that yes; traveling on SL busses with a stroller is sometimes a problematic endeavor.
Our original guess, that strollers become a problem when the busses are crowded, was confirmed by the data we gathered. Another thing worth noting is that all the interviewees responded positively to the idea of an application that can identify suitable busses.

In summary, the interviews provided us with a lot of data that confirmed our initial assumptions and helped to identify the behavior, motivations and goals our target group. We feel that we have a good idea of our target group at this point, and have enough data to establish requirements.

This week, we have been polishing the personas and scenarios that we started working on during last weeks exercise. We hope that our gathered data will help us to envision believable situations, which in turn will inspire us when we begin to conceptualize our technical solution.

Personas and Scenarios

Name: Karin af Silverstav

Age: 29

Civil status: One child, Leah (1 year old), married to Johan

Profession: Technological lead at Nordea, at the moment on parental leave

Education: 4 years Civilekonom at Umeå Universitet

Lives: Villa in Bromma

Personality

Karin is incredibly pedantic and likes to plan every single event in her life. She is the opposite of spontaneous and likes to keep everything under control. Every tuesday night, she sings in a gospel choir and loves it. In that zone, she can feel free and can let go of her control needs. She has problems with taking place in social contexts and considers conflicts to be unnecessary.

Background

Karin just bought her first house in Bromma with her husband. She met her husband during her studies in Umeå. The like to do things together and have probably spent a whole year's salary on cured meats in the market hall at Östermalm. One of their top interests is to go wine tasting in Provence over the weekend. Karin’s widowed mother lives in Stockholm city, and is more than happy to take care of Leah so that the couple can tend to their marriage.

Life situation

Karin just started her parental leave and is putting all her energy into doing activities with her daughter. Johan, that just finished his parental leave did not bring Leah outside enough according to Karin, so now her mission is to be outside as much as possible. A normal day Karin brings Leah to a playground or a kids museum.

Name: Mikael ‘Degen’ Johansson

Age: 42

Profession: Teaches maths and sports at Norra Real in Stockholm

Education: Stockholms university

Civil status: Lives with Johanne (37), his girlfriend of 5 years. Two children, Erika (9 mnd) and Martin (2 år)

Lives: Semi-detached house in Lidingö

Personality

Degen is a social, laid-back person who likes to take life as it comes. when he was younger, he wanted to be a professional football player, but after a knee injury and a quick reality check, he ended up as a high school teacher.  

Background

He usually takes his bike when he needs to go into the city center, and he always cycles to work. But now that he is on paternity leave and traveled with a stroller, he thinks it’s easier to travel by bus. He never takes the car because he can’t be bothered looking for a parking spot. Most of his friends are done with their toddler period, so he misses having some other parents to spend his day with. Since he is home all day with Erika, he often picks up Marin early from kindergarten so that the three of them can do something fun in the afternoon. They sometimes go to the park, or they go to Jarlaplan to pick Johanne up from work.

Life situation

Mikael thinks cooking dinner is boring, så now that he is in charge of the home and children, they eat a lot of ready meals like sausages and macaroni. Johanne is not happy about this because she wants the family to eat healthier. He has always loved sports and exercising, but after he got children, he is unable to do this as often as he would like. Now, the only exercise he gets, is two nights a week with football practice with his teacher colleagues from Norra Real.

Scenarios

Karin is taking a coffee

Karin is on her way to meet up one of her best friends that she hasn't had time to meet due to the renovation and maternity leave. She’s going to take the bus from Jarlaplan to Slussen to drink coffee (latte) with her friend at Slussen. With her she has Leah in a stroller. The time is one o'clock. She arrives at the bus stop and is informed that the next bus is arriving in about 5 minutes. She’s waiting for the bus and hopes that it’s not full or already has several strollers on it. When the bus arrives, she sees that it is half full, but all the space where strollers are supposed to be  are occupied. She wonders if she should get on anyway and be in risk of blocking the aisle, or simply wait for the next bus. Because she is a little late she decides to take the risk, because she does not know if next bus will be full. Fellow passengers gives her annoyed looks when she decides to get on the bus. The trip goes well but it is difficult to get off and get on due to the strollers. At one stop, she needs to step of the bus with her stroller because she is blocking the exit for another stroller.  

Karin on the way to the hairdresser

Karin is taking the bus from Slussen to Stureplan, where she has an appointment at the hairdresser at 17:30. She brings Leah with her and she’s been strolling at söder all day.

She notice that the bus that’s coming is crammed with people.

Karin immediately becomes stressed and there are people in the whole aisle, and also where the prams are suppose to be.

It all starts untimely because Karin has to ask a fellow traveler to help her with the pram due to the fact that the gap between the bus and the pavement is too high to take the pram on the bus by herself. Leah now starts to scream and Karin gets incredibly stressed. The people at the stroller spot moves slightly but there is not much place to go. People start to get irritated that Leah is now screaming at the top of her lungs and Karin feels enormously rushed and strained. She takes up Leah from the carriage but it does not help. People are trying to squeeze past to get off the bus and new people is getting on. Karin is completely sweaty and feel almost ill, she’s not in control of the situation and she feels misunderstood at the bus. Finally they arrived at Stureplan and now Karin is exhausted, it's almost like she wants to skip her appointment.

Degens excursion with the kids, saturday, daytime.

Degen is on his way to Slussen with the kids to take the boat to Djurgården to spend some quality time with them. He is planning to take the bus to Jarlaplan, and thereafter take bus number 2 to Slussen and then switch to the boat heading to Djurgården. Saturdays usually means both many people and strollers so he’s hoping that there won't be any problem on the way. When he gets to Jarlaplan he sees that there’s already two strollers waiting for the bus. He’s wondering if it’s worth waiting for the first bus and hoping there is space for 3 strollers or if he could just do something else while then getting the next bus. He chooses to take a walk and take the next bus. The next bus is coming in 7 min so he decides to walk to the next bus stop and he gets on the next bus there. He saw that the first bus got really full and his bus had a lot of strollers space. He is glad that he waited but he got 7 min delayed, which didn’t really matter because he didn’t have an appointment to keep. He thought to himself that this time he got lucky cause he had no way to know the next bus would be so empty.

Degens mondays

Degen follows a very strict ritual on mondays. He wakes up at 06:00, puts on coffee and then goes to wake up Erika & Martin. If it all goes well Degen is ready to take Martin to kindergarten by 07:20. This is a crucial time as being late out of the house will make him travel in rush hour which he absolutely hates. Most mondays it all goes well and he actually enjoys spending some time with Martin on the bus from Slussen to Stureplan. 

Interview

When going out on a field study of the purpose of interview, I found it very hard as no one I asked where up for stopping a few minutes to answer the questions our group had prepared. Therefor I decided to send out a questionnaire to someone I know have a baby and use a stroller to travel in the commute traffic, but I also decided to not send it to someone I know. Instead I sent it to someone I've met and is acquainted with, but don't know very well. The result became an answered questionnaire with Lisa.

Interview with Lisa

Do you travel with your stroller on the bus?

Yes

Do you have some kind of strategy when you travel? (Choice of stop, time of the day etc.)

I try to avoid big stops, such as the Central-station, or Slussen, and go on/off at a stop before/after.

If you knew that the next bus would be empty, would you wait for that one?

I think so, yes.

If there was an application that showed which buses that is suitable for strollers, would you use it?

Probably, yes.

Have you ever got off the bus because it was too full?

No, but I’ve had to wait for the next one because it was too full.

Do you feel like you’re in the way when travelling with a stroller?

Often yes, people aren’t that keen on giving up space for a stroller if it’s crowded.

Are you ever worried about your baby’s safety?

Yes, as I just recieved my baby, I’m more or less constantly worried.

Ideas for improvements?

Not that I can think of now. 

Other point of views?

The mentality of other travellers are a downside. Instead of being helpful, people give you looks.

Practical questions

Male/Female? Female

Age? 27

Do you own a smartphone? Yes

Monthly Card or ”Reskassa”? Monthly Card

Do you have more kids? No

State-of-the-art Analysis

My base when starting to research for the current help material/advice/apps/ if you travel with a stroller is to look at how the various commuting systems differ in different cities. I looked into Helsinki, Gothenburg(Västtrafik), Malmö(Skånetrafik), Paris, Toronto & New York. Very different cities but it's cities where the majority commute. 

In Helsinki, the attitude is very welcoming towards travelers with a stroller. They offer free ride for every owner of a stroller(as in Stockholm) and their website describes information about where there is room & space along with safety information on how to get around.
Similar to Stockholm buses, they have a button especially for the travelers with strollers to push so the doors will keep open for a longer time than normal.

However, when reading about the information given on Västtrafiks website, the attitude is completely different. The information seems to give an impression for the travelers with strollers to be the least prioritized. The information given is that "you travel upon availability (...) make sure to park the stroller so it isn't in the way for others."

Skånetrafik is a combination of Helsinki's and Västtrafik's commuting system. You travel upon availability and you travel with free of charge. But only if there's a baby in the stroller, otherwise it's demanded to buy a "ticket for the stroller", a corresponding ticket for bicycles.

Finally, when it comes to Paris, Toronto & New York, they function quite the same for the travelers. It is adapted to people with dysfunctions. It is marked on the maps and the stations whether it's a station adapted to those with disabilities or not and they point out on how their commuting system is trying to get more adapt. 
But there is no information for if you travel with a stroller and considering on how the trams, subways and buses are built, the vehicles for traveling are not very stroller-friendly. The aim and purpose seems to be to fit as many people as possible. 

Similar to how the information is given to people with disabilities, the commuting systems could be much more clear on giving information for travelers with strollers and how to best make the trip suitable for the traveler.

State of the art analysis

For my state of the art analysis, I have looked around for apps and websites about taking a pram or a stroller on public transportation. There was not that much information about our chosen target group and use context.

Most of the official websites I could find, focused on practical matters like where the strollers should be placed, whether or not the passanger with a stroller travels for free and the maximum number of strollers permitted on the different buses. A lot of forums and blogs discuss this topic as well, and the advice ranges from 'don't be afraid to ask other passengers for help' to 'it's probably best to just have the baby in a carrier'. A lot of blogs recommend looking for a bus stop that is less likely to be busy or chose less popular travelling hours. This somewhat confirms our theory that such an app is needed.

I downloaded a couple of apps for parents with strollers. The first one is a Swedish app called AVIVA. It helps the users find places where they are welcome with a stroller, where they can change nappies and where they are allowed to breast feed. When the user opens the app, it will find all the nearest baby-friendly locations. The user can also search for a specific area or cafe/museum/restaurant. The second app is a Japanese metro travel-app called Yamanote Line Exit that tells the user what stations have elevators and where to get on the train. The interface is a list of stations and the information 'Elevator', 'No Elevator' and where on the station the train stops.

I also had a look at an app for users with similar problems - travleeing with a wheelchair on public transportation.

The german app Wheelmap will give the user about the same type of information as AVIVA but it also includes travel info. It has its own category called 'Verker' (transportion) that tells the user where the closest bus or metro stop facilitated for wheelchair users is.

I even got a chance to ride a bus with my friend and her baby in rush hour. I found this research very useful because actually experiencing what it's like to push a pram on to a super full bus and seeing how the other passengers try to avoid moving or giving up their seats for the pram, gave me an insight in issues with taking a stroller on the bus. It surprised me how un cooperative other passengers are. 

In conclusion, I have discovered that there are many apps that tells the user where to find the nearest stop with an elevator or easy access for passengers with a pram or a wheelchair, but no apps that tell the user where and when to find buses with room for prams and wheelchairs.

Interview

For my interview, I spoke with a 35-year old mother who had her first child 2 weeks ago. Now that she's in maternity leave, she has a 'reskassa' on her iPhone. 

Do you travel with a pram on the bus?

Yes. Because I don't have a car.

Do you have any strategies when you take the bus with you daughter?

I try to avoid rush hours. 

If you knew that the next bus would be fairly empty - would you wait for that bus?

 That depends on how busy I am. Now that I'm on maternity leave and have some time, I would probably wait for the next bus if I knew it would have room. 

How long would you be willing to wait?

About 1 hour if I would wait at home. Less if this information only was available at the bus stop.

Have you ever gone off the bus because it was too full?

I have jumped off a few stops earlier because is was too crowded, but never actually left the bus to wait for the next one.

If there was an app that would tell you what stops or what times the bus ride would be good for prams, would you use ut?

Yes, I think so. 

Do you feel like you're i the way?

Yes. It feels like the other passengers think it's annoying with parents traveling with prams, but now I care less and less. I feel like I'm in the way, but it doesn't bother me that much anymore.

Do you worry about your child's safety?

Sometimes yes, especially now that she's so small. 

Any ideas to improvement?

It's too cramped between the seats on the bus, so I can't take the pram further back if there's more room there. Aside from that, my biggest problem is with other passengers attitudes. Very few people move with our being asked.

State-of-the-art

When searching for products around our target group and problems I did not find any useful physical product at all. Sure there are strollers that you can fold and buses in different citites/countries all have different setups but thats not our field in this project. This is kinda worrying and was something we have talked about. Theres not really any physical product you can make to help the people with babystrollers on buses except redesigning the bus itself or make a new strollers. Maybe we haven’t explored all the possibilites or we aren’t smart enough. But also this creates alot of opportunity space to create something that could at least make their lifes easier, that is not physical. Small services that in the end might become a larger system.

As I said not alot comes up when you search for this area on the net. Mostly you read about complaints and how things work (and not work) in different cities/countries. One page I read was from Singapore (http://sg.theasianparent.com/baby-strollers-giving-mothers-grief/) and the buses there didn’t even allow strollers if you can’t fold them and put them in a luggage rack (sounds like they have regular buses with an aisle in the middle and seats on every side). In Vancouver there seems to be some kind of war between seniors and strollers (http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2011/07/14/stroller-wars-on-the-buses-seniors-vs-baby-buggies/) where strollers take up space where seniors can sit, but it also states a priority list that seems to be common among transportation companys:

“Seating areas nearest the doors on SkyTrain, SeaBus and buses are designed for people with disabilities and for seniors.

• Seats at the front of buses – trolleys, 40’ conventional and 60’ articulated coaches – can flip up to accommodate people with mobility devices. Please vacate these seats immediately and help make room for them.
• Strollers may use this area; however, when demand dictates, the stroller must give way to people with mobility devices, including walkers. Children in strollers should be removed and the strollers collapsed.
• For safety reasons, the maximum size for a stroller is 122 centimetres (48”) long by 60 centimetres (24”) wide. Strollers must be collapsible.
• Wheelchairs and scooters up to 122 centimetres (48”) long by 60 centimetres (24”) wide, will usually fit on the bus.“

So it kinda always boils down to how to fit the stroller and the others in a bus. A stroller is big and takes a lot of space and it can be a safety risk if it blocks exits and aisles (which I personally have seen alot in Stockholm) and something should be done. Our project won’t fix this but hopefully we can come up with something that helps the parents with strollers as our buses are not the greatest for them.

Interview

Interview med Martina.

Åker du buss med barnvagn?

Ja, det gör jag.

Har du någon strategi när du åker? (Val av hållplats, tid på dygnet etc.)

Jag det kanske man skulle kunna säga, jag åker nästan aldrig när jag vet att det är som mest folk i kollektivtrafiken. Försöker att åka lite tidigare eller senare om det går. Men ibland måste man ju iväg den tiden också tyvärr..

Om du visste att nästa buss var tom, skulle du vänta då?

Ja om den bussen jag var påväg att ta var full, skulle jag definitivt vänta.

Om det fanns en applikation som visade vilka bussar som passar för att åka med barnvagn, skulle du använda den?

Ja verkligen.

Har du någonsin gått av bussen för att det var för fullt?

Nej det har jag aldrig men det har varit nära faktiskt.

Känner du dig i vägen när du åker med barnvagn?

Ibland, speciellt när det är mycket folk. Men jag tycker faktiskt att andra tycker vi med barnvagnar är ivägen mer än vad jag tycker kanske.

Är du orolig för dina barns säkerhet?

Nej, inte så länge det sitter i barnvagnen på bussen.

Idé för förbättringar?

Jadu, mer plats för barnvagnar eller kanske mer bussar under rusningstrafiken.

Andra synpunkter?

Martina: Får man skicka en liten hälsning till andra medresenärer kanske?

jag: Ja, visst

Martina: Eventuellt medförståelse från andra passagerare, vi är inte ivägen medvetet.

Utan vi gör vårt bästa för att vara smidiga, men det är inte så lätt alltid.

Ja/Nej-frågor

Man/Kvinna? Kvinna

Ålder? 35

Har du en smartphone? Ja

Månadskort eller reskassa? Månadskort

Har du fler barn? Nej

Kort på Martinas barnvagn under bussresan.

State-of-the-art-analysis

I´ve decided to see if there are other countries that have solved the issue with strollers on the bus differently than SL and sweden.

The latest decision about strollers within SL from the swedish government came 2014 where they decided the following.

“SL:s styrelse beslutade i november 2010 att anta en långsiktig tillgänglighetsplan med målet att ”SL:s allmänna kollektivtrafik ska upplevas som det mest attraktiva resealternativet för resenärer med funktionsnedsättning”.

Utredningens rekommendation som har kommunicerats på webb-sidan sl.se är:

• Maxvikt för rullstol på alla sorters fordon är 300 kg.

• Största mått för rullstolar/barnvagnar på bussen är 120 cm långa

och 75 cm breda.

• Största rekommenderade mått för rullstolar och barnvagnar på tåg

och spårvagnar är 130 cm långa och 90 cm breda. Bredden styrs av

att bredaste spärren är 90 cm.

• Du får aldrig ta med en elmoped med styre på bussen.

• På grund av inkomna resenärssynpunkter om bredd på barnvagnar har rekommendationen på sl.se den 10 juni i år ändrats till, ” Största mått för barnvagnar på bussen är 120 cm längd. Ingen begränsning på breddmåttet”. “
  (https://www.sll.se/Global/Politik/Politiska-organ/Trafiknamnden/2014/2014-12-02/p12-Tjut-TN-Svar-pa-skrivelse-om-riktlinjer-barnvagnar-pa-SLs-bussar.pdf)
  
  

This differ a bit from guidelines in for example the U.K where most bus drivers will ask the parent to fold their stroller when they get on the bus.

(http://www.dccirculator.com/Home/RiderInformation/StrollersonBus.aspx, http://daily.sightline.org/2012/01/10/your-wheels-on-the-bus/)  

This is most likely to happen in New York as well.

I haven't found any information about aps, or something similar ,for parents on public transportations.

The most technical solutions i found are apps for parents to track their kids on the schoolbus or apps for e.i. field trip. Apps similar to the description below.

Life360

“This location sharing app will help put parents' minds at ease. Life360 shares the locations of everyone in a private circle, letting parents know if their child made it home from school or arrived safely at soccer practice. The app also allows for easy private messaging, ensuring everyone is keeping each other informed of their plans. Life360 is free for iOS, Android and Windows Phone users.” 

(http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/back-school-apps-busy-parents/story?id=33582394 )