Fare & Passes

UX DESIGN / UI DESIGN / USER RESEARCH / USABILITY TESTING

Test Scenarios

• #1. Dominique is 45 and an experience corporate professional. She lives in Pflugerville - outside CapMetro's local service area. She has decided that she wants to use the nearest park and ride, then ride CapMetro's service to and from downtown Austin for the entire month. Dominique makes most of her purchases from her mobile device. She wants to find and purchase a fare to cover that one-month period.
  What fare option might Dominique consider?
• #2. Jeff is 35 and a stay-at-home dad. He lives in Central Austin - inside CapMetro's local service area. Jeff decides to ditch the family car and use public transportation – just for the day - grab the two kids (Nina 5 and Jeff Junior 8), and take a trip to the nearest Walmart to get groceries for that evening's dinner. While Jeff is not new to public transportation, it's been sometime since he's ridden it around town.
  What fare options and perks might Jeff consider?
• #3. Kim is 22 and a college student. She studies at UT and wants to someday be a city planner. Kim lives in Leander and normally drives into the city for classes, but often does not like the hassle of dealing with big city traffic. One Sunday night while sitting in front of her laptop she decides that instead of driving she would ride CapMetro to get to class and then back home for an entire week. She has never tried the service.
  What fare option might Kim consider?
• #4. Chad is 25 and a bar tender. His apartment is further south, a short bicycle ride from Southpark Meadows. Chad's works at a bar in the Domain. Each day he takes Route 801 to Republic Square, then connects to Route 803 there, which takes he and his bike on to a stop at the Domain. The owner allows Chad to store his bicycle in his office while he's at work.
  What fare option might Chad consider?
• #5. Bertha plays bingo on Wednesday nights at the local bingo parlor. Her daughter, who normally takes her can't take her anymore because her new job requires her to work those evenings. Now to get there, Bertha decides to ride a local bus and needs to find out how much she will need to spend to purchase a fare that she would be using once a week.
  What fare option might Bertha consider?

Testing Insights, and Iterations

Overall, people understood the fares and passes information and the procedures for obtaining them.

“I’m happy with what they have done.”
– Nitesh, Rider

“I like that everything is organized."
– Naiya, Non-Rider

• One person initially misunderstood the Apple Store and Google Play buttons, thinking she could pay her fare with Apple Pay.
• One person noted that the “advertisement” section for the app felt too big and that it took up “too much real estate."

Most people (4 out of 5) noticed the option to download the app and noted that they would likely do so.

Terminology

People generally understood the different types of fares offered and yet often felt
a little confused about which one to choose.

Confusion: When asked about the term Full Fares

• When asked about the term “full fares,” some were not sure of the meaning.
  
  

  "To me, it’s not particularly clear." 
  –  Nitesh, Rider

Recommendation: try “standard fares” instead of “full fares.”

Local vs. Commuter: Many people did not understand the differences between “Local” and “Commuter” fares.

• When asked about the terms “Local vs Commuter,” participants were not sure of the meaning.
  
  

  "I don't understand why there is a commuter vs. local fare." 
  – Amanda, Rider

  "Am I a commuter or local?" 
  – Brook, Rider

Tripped up by Bus types: Many people did not understand the differences between bus types.

• People often did not understand the differences between buses (MetroRapid and MetroBus).
  
  

  "I would choose MetroRapid because when you’re working with transportation, you want it to be as rapid as possible. " 
  – Amanda, Rider,

  "If there were a way for it to specify what Metrobus and MetroRapid are that would help. " 
  – Jeffery, Rider,

Recommendation: Consider adding descriptive text to define types of fares and passes and context in which they would be used.

MetroBike and Bus: 

• People often did not know the meaning of “MetroBike and Bus.”
  
  

  "Is a Metro Bike different from taking your bike? I'm confused. " 
  – Amanda, Rider,

  "I need an information icon or a small image—what is a MetroBike?. " 
  – Nitesh, Rider
  

• One participant said that it seemed “sketchy” to rent a bike because it was hard to know how to return them and how much you would be charged.
  
  

  "They charge you for taking your bike on the bus? " 
  – Jeffery, Rider

Consider adding more description and iconography to help explain the program.

There is an opportunity to help people understand the benefits and details of bike rentals.

Stored Value Card/Comparing fares: 

• When people scrolled down and saw the Stored Value Card, they indicated that they wanted a way to compare what option might suit their needs. From here, they often scrolled up and down the page, trying to get a sense of the different options and which would be the most cost-effective based on their individual needs or the different scenarios.
  
  

  " This gets me to take out a piece of paper and pencil and do the math.” 
  – Jeffery, Rider

Consider giving people a way to compare the different fare types or a way to funnel people through to figure out what pass would best suit their needs.

Benefits and/or uses of Stored Value Cards should also be included in the fare description.

Summary

The new design for the Fares and Passes section of the CapMetro website went through 2 rounds of revisions based on feedback from our UX testing participants. During this time, we learned the following:

• Overall, the new design was well received and easy to use. The prototype was ultimately rated a 4 out of 5 when participants were asked how likely they would be to use the site.
• Participants were able to find passes easily with the second version of the prototype, tending to use price/cost as their main criteria.
• All the riders stated they usually find what they need to purchase passes or find live schedules on platforms , like the CapMetro App and Google maps.
• Most of the participants liked the amount of detail in the Standard Fares section, including the brief description.
• There was some initial confusion among the different types of passes, namely Local vs. Commuter. Renaming or adding iconography may resolve some of this confusion.
• Participants had no problems locating and understanding the content in the Reduced Fares section.
• Many participants familiar with CapMetro were initially unfamiliar with the Pickup Service and the breadth of resources available from CapMetro. They were excited to learn what was available.
• When viewing the Fare Programs page, most could find what they needed easily and some suggested additional information to include.
• Participants liked seeing that MetroBikes are available (although most would not use a MetroBike).