An award-winning app focused on improving access to New York’s informal transit network
In an effort to sharpen my design skills, I decided to join the NYC BigApps competition. NYC BigApps is a civic innovation challenge in New York City for designers, developers, academics, entrepreneurs, and New Yorkers at large to apply their know-how to improve the Big Apple. Contestants were challenged to leverage technology and data to solve urban transportation problems.
NYC BigApps held several listening sessions with New York’s youth, seniors and immigrants, and uncovered pain points around:
My team chose to focus on Dollar vans, an informal network of shuttle buses operating in neighborhoods underserved by mass transit providing rides for as little as $2. Even though tens of thousands of New Yorkers ride Dollar vans, many others are unaware of them entirely, and there is noncentralized site—online or otherwise—to find information about the service. Our team’s solution sought to raise public awareness of this transit option, provide route information for new riders, and improve access to the vans with technology.
First, we interviewed 10 Dollar van riders about their habits and concerns when riding in vans, and learned about various factors related to the user’s issues. For example, if van-tracking would be useful for riders and if wait-time was an important factor in their decision to take a Dollar van. To my surprise though, riders kept commenting about safety as a key factor and this prompted us to redirect our research efforts. After 10 more interviews focused on safety, I learned many riders had encounters with unsafe van drivers.
“Not knowing when the vans are going to show up gives me some anxiety about getting to where I need to go.”
“I don't like taking vans with drivers I don't know or have never seen before.”
“It seems suspicious to me if [a van] has dings on it or out of state plates.”
Before designing the wireframes, I examined a variety of transit apps to see common user flows in apps that solved a similar problem. I found that:
My team chose to create an app that provides more efficient access to licensed Dollar vans. The app aimed to ease concern about van arrival times and provide information that would confirm drivers have a safe driving record. I decided a web-based app was the best way to deliver the app since it would make it accessible across all platforms and devices, require less development work than native apps, and users wouldn’t need to install it on their device.
During the initial research, I learned there was no publicly-listed information on using Dollar vans; instead, riders learned about Dollar vans exclusively through word-of-mouth. So I spent time collecting and formalizing van information for users, including costs, routes, and how to identify licensed vans.
Riders in Queens told us wait-time was a big determiner in whether they chose to ride a van or take another mode of transit. I introduced a van tracking feature so users could see how long they might have to wait for a pickup and could easily determine if a Dollar van was going to be the ideal option for their commute.
After discovering that riders had concerns about safety, I introduced safety ratings and reviews. Now users could see their driver's safety profile and feel safer in their van.
In addition to being able to see driver reviews, riders can also leave reviews for others to see. When combined with the previous feature, users would quickly be able to ascertain safety in a much more reliable way than the look of the van.
From 150 submissions, DollarVan.nyc was chosen as 1 of the 9 finalists. After presenting our prototype and pitch, we won the Judge’s Choice Award. Our winnings included an opportunity to pilot the app on LinkNYC kiosks along Dollar van routes, and an invite into the Civic Xcel incubator program to further develop our app and refine our business plan.
The BigApps NYC competition gave me the opportunity to test my UX design skills and workshop an original idea through human-centered design. Above all, I learned the importance of user research as part of that process because it elucidates users' problems, inspires ideas, guides decisions, tests assumptions, and helps in goal tracking. The opportunity also allowed me to meet new people in tech, engage with new communities, create a socially impactful product and develop a business plan, making me a much more confident researcher and designer as a result.
Key Learnings
This project had its humbling moments as well. While my team was able to connect with city officials and get buy-in from ~20 drivers, it was much more difficult to reach the Commuter Van Association, which limited our ability to get driver buy-in on a larger scale. I learned that when undertaking such an ambitious project, bringing community stakeholders to the table is essential to the success of the product. In the future, I would work on assessing stakeholders that have the power to help a project to completion.
I also learned that diversity is a real strength when collaborating. My teammates all came from various backgrounds and experiences, offering diverse skill sets. The initial idea for this project came from the lived experience of our developer. And our bilingual teammates were key to providing users with Spanish and Chinese versions of the app.
“DollarVan.nyc adapts the models of modern services, such as Uber and Airbnb, to develop services for underserved city populations.”
