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 )