DEEP DIVE BUS STATION
Tzu-Yun Liu K1732342 Sustainable Design
Content Observation Facilities Users Informal interview
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Design Brief 14
Explore 15
Final 16
Summary 21
Why I chose bus stations? As a foreigner ,buses are an essential public transportation for me to travel around the city. However, I have faced some problems when I take a bus. First, there are a lot of bus stops all over the city and some of them are closed to each other. Thus, it is difficult for me to find the right bus station at once; sometimes buses go to the opposite direction even though I already used a tracking application to locate it. In addition, it is confusing that the timetable is not always precise; sometimes the buses cancel or delate, but the timetable would not notify passengers. A well-functional bus system is so important to a country that it is not only a transportation which takes people to the places they want to be. For those who are not able to drive such as the disabled and the elder. The accessibility of the bus station is related to the social participation in their life. (Scielo.br, 2017)
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Facilities at the bus station 4
Bus Timetable There are three common categories of timetable in the UK. Traditional Timetable Electronic Timetable
Advantages
• The routes of the buses. Passengers will know which bus will take them to their destination.
• Live timetable is easy for people to plan the journey.
• The time of the buses on schedule.
Disadvantages
• The display is too small for elder to read. • The time is not always accurate.
Interactive Timetable • Live timetable • The height of the device is better for people from all age to read the message.
• The display is too small for • The display is too small for elder to read and the height is elder to read. not suitable for children. • The time is not always accurate.
• The time is not always accurate.
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Waiting Chairs I observed that there were many waiting seats in the bus stations, but most passengers stood around the bus flag instead. Therefore, those seats became the decorations, or the shelves for people to place their shopping bag. I took a seat at the bus shelter when I waiting the bus, in order to understand why people do not want to sit. I realized it difficult to see the bus, because the crowd that stood around the bus flag would block my sight. As a result, it turn into a vicious cycle; in order to know when the bus arrived, I had to stand nearby the flag. After a while, the footway was crowded with passengers and blocked.
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Litter The passengers' environment also impact the accessible of a bus station, which includes the quality of the bus service and safety. A clean passenger waiting area improves the passengers' environment. Rubbish bins should be provided but care needs to be taken by the local authority, for example, the problems of smells and flies, potential for anti social behaviour and avoiding obstruction to pedestrian and passenger movement. (Consultations.tfl.gov.uk, 2017) Although there are many rubbish bins around the bus station, there are still lots of garbage everywhere, especially paper waste such as newspapers and magazines.
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Advertisement People paid attention on the direction of the buses, so it’s hard for passengers to notice that there is an advertisement behind them.
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Users at the bus station 9
Timeline What people do during the waiting time? I used rough sketch to record passengers behavior from they arriving the bus station until they leaving and I found a similar routine. First thing they did mostly is to check the timetable for around two minutes; and then some passengers would eating or listening music, others especially the young would gather together and chat. Subsequently, people would focus on the street for one to two minutes before their buses arrived.
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Group phenomena What people do during the waiting time?
Figure 1-1. Eden Street (Stop E3)
Although people did different things when they waiting the bus, I observed that people tent to face the direction of the buses and gathered at the bus flag. Therefore, there is always a group of people staying around the bus flag. Figure1-1, the crowd almost blocked the footway, so pedestrians could not move from the street. Especially, it’s a challenge for pedestrians who had a pram. This group phenomena does not just occur at the big bus stations, even the bus stops also have the same problems. (Figure 1-2)
Figure 1-2. New Malden The Fountain (Stop L)
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The pictures display the obvious contrast, that people tent to crowd around the bus pole. The vision of passengers behind the crowd is completely block. It became a vicious cycle; in order to know when the bus arrived, people had to stand closer the bus flag with the crowd.
Figure 1-3. Cromwell Road Bus Station, East (Bay A2)
Figure 1-2. Cromwell Road Bus Station, West (Bay A2)
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Informal Interview
Why passengers tent to gather and stood around the bus flag?
Why you stood around the bus flag instead of sitting in the bus shelter? Do you think waiting at the bus station waste your time?
“Because I want to see that the bus is coming or not, and standing closer to the bus pole can see wider and further.” “The timetable is not reliable., so I trust my eyes.” “The timetable said the bus is one minute away, so I wait nearby the bus pole, in case there is too crowed when the bus arrive.” “The display on the timetable is too small for me to read, so in order to know when the bus arrive, I have to focus on the street.”
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Brief I am designing a device/ a system
That
• Visualize the timetable. • Display the distance between buses and the station instead of time.
For
• Convey the precise and simple information.
So that
• Passengers, especially the elderly people, who do not know how to use an application to track the buses, can easy locate the bus. • People do not have to gather around the bus flag to wait the bus showing. 14
Explore ideas
• Using vibration or broadcast to notify the passengers. • Using Light bar, Racing game or pie chart to display the distance. 15
BusMap
Sound
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• Live bus tracker • Visualize the distance instead of time. • It can be installed in any bus shelter, rather than rebuilding the shelter. • LED Light save electricity.
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Mark the key building. People can quickly recognize the surrounding and identify the location of the buses.
Sign the current position. Use different shape of LED light to distinguish the bus station.
Display the simplified bus information. Different color represents different bus line.
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Keep the traditional paper bus timetable Combine with BusMap For passengers unfamiliar with the service, a full timetable and route diagram are more helpful and these may be regarded as essential for longer or infrequent services. (Planningni.gov.uk, 2017) 19
Prototype
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Summary BusMap is designed for passengers from all age, especially the elderly people. The purpose is to assist people estimating the distance of the buses and planing their bus journeys without an application. Using simplify visual information, passengers won’t spend too much time reading the timetable and enjoying their waiting time at the bus shelter.
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Bibliography • Scielo.br. (2017). Lack of accessibility in public transport and inadequacy of sidewalks. [online] Available at: http://www.scielo.br/pdf/rbgg/v20n2/1809-9823rbgg-20-02-00161.pdf.
• Consultations.tfl.gov.uk. (2017). Accessible bus stop design guidance. [online] Available at: https://consultations.tfl.gov.uk/buses/accessible-bus-stop-design-guidance/user_uploads/ accessible-bus-stop-design-guidance-for-public-consultation-290914.pdf.
• Planningni.gov.uk. (2017). Bus Stop Design Guide. [online] Available at: https:// www.planningni.gov.uk/downloads/busstop-designguide.pdf.
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