Estimated Time of Arrivals.

Estimated Time of Arrivals.

Role and Duration.

UX Lead | Zonar Systems

Quantitative User Research · Design Ideation

What assumption are we addressing?

Customers want to see their planned arrival times in OnRoute so that they can compare actual arrival times against the expected arrival times for the route.

Questions we addressed:

  • Is this something we could possibly provide automatically? (estimated in OnRoute Web & in-app)

  • If we have users inputting the ETAs themselves, how will we equip them to adapt routes if the actual route times aren’t the same as their predictions?

  • How will we enable users to compare route times (estimated vs real)?

  • Would it be possible to record the time it took to record the route when users record a route?

  • Why do users want this solution?

  • How might we empower users with a time estimation solution that doesn’t expend more time than absolutely necessary?

How is ETA represented in the UI?

  • Real-time driver tracking in a map view

  • Data exporting into other formats (Word, Excel, etc.)

  • Route analytics report

    • Planned arrival times

    • Historical arrival times

Ticket Acceptance Criteria.

  • Define a solution chosen through UXR.

  • Equip users with an ETA solution that doesn’t expend more time than their current solutions.

Competitor Evaluation Goals.

  • Understand how our competitors are addressing the need for time sensitive route planning in the following areas:

    • How are our competitors addressing ETA?

    • How is ETA represented in the UI?

    • Who are our competitors seeking to serve?

    • What product features are our competitors offering that are relevant to, or complimentary to ETA?

  • Utilize the results to inform our team’s path forward for implementing planned arrival time.

How are competitors addressing ETA?

  • GPS Data

  • Historical Card Scans

  • ESRI-based program using ArcGIS™️ Server

  • Record of historical arrival / departure times

  • User inputted route data

Who are our competitors seeking to serve?

  • Primary Persona: Dispatchers

  • Secondary Persona: Parents

  • Tertiary Persona: Students

What product features are our competitors offering that are relevant to, or complimentary to ETA?

  • Real-time ETA for student ridership

  • Track on-time performance of individual buses

  • Historical arrival times

  • Near live GPS Tracking

  • View route scenarios before running

  • Equip users to adapt routes based on stops that they already pass by

UI Explorations.

After completing the competitor evaluation, I made design explorations depicting some of the potential paths forward that our team could take based on industry standards.

Outcome: Defined design concepts for the development team to discuss and deliberate about based on technical limitations.

  • School bus dispatchers work in a highly pressurized environment and need to be equipped to do their jobs as time efficiently as possible. How are our competitors addressing this area of need when it comes to optimizing routes?

  • There are two main offerings that our competitors equip their users with for ETA:

    1. Real-time asset tracking for school buses.

    2. A route analytics report showing bus performance over time.

  • Collaborate with team leaders to determine the priority of the offerings we could implement for this need space.

How might we equip dispatchers with the ability to plan routes in a time conscious manner?

August 2023

Overview.

Final Thoughts.

Final Thoughts.

Next Steps.

This project was left open ended because the Product Manager that requested it departed from our company in the middle of the initiative and this project’s priority is under question by the new Product Manager. I agree with the decision to deprioritize this project, but if we were to reengage with it, I would encourage the following next steps:

  • Retroactive qualitative user research to determine where this product offering lies in our user’s priorities.