Bargate

A better fare gate design for BART.

type

Group Case Study Project

focus

Human Centered Design
UX Design
User Research
Ideation
Usability Testing

Tools

Sketch
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe After Effects
Adobe Premiere Pro
Cinema 4D

Overview

The Bay Area Rapid Transit is one of the biggest public transportation systems serving Northern California. However, BART has a lot of well known issues including safety, schedule, personal space, hygiene...etc.

BART loses $15,000,000 to $25,000,000 each year due to the fare evasion. If we can reduce BART fare evasion, we can help with the packed trains during rush hour and also save money for BART to improve their services and facilities.

0.1 Team Structure

About Our Team

On the day we started this project, we decided to use "Pathfinders" as our team name. The reason behind this is that we focus on human centered design, and problem framing plays a huge role in this design process. We are the pathfinders; we try everything; we talk to everyone in order to find the right path.

My Role

What I Did

I oversee the progress of the project to make sure our team stays on schedule. I participated in all stages of our project development. Including interview target audience, generate user survey, create mockups for user testing, create storyboard, ideation, and usability testing.

As the visual designer in the team, I also created our proof of concept slides and presentation slides. I shot the video footage for the concept video and did the post-editing as well.

My Role

What I did

As the visual designer in the team, I also created our proof of concept slides and presentation slides. I shot the video footage for the concept video and did the post-editing as well.

1.1 primary research

Affinity Diagram

Based on the nine private interviews, an affinity diagram is generated to organize and analyze the information.

Survey Summary

This survey is generated with general questions to find our target audience and their main concerns.

1.2 secondary research

Secondary Source Summary

Other supporting sources found online including reports, data, and articles.

The Satisfaction of Riders

The BART approval and satisfaction of riders have dropped over the last few years. BART riders feel like BART has become a haven for homeless people and drug addicts.

Safety is the #1 Priority

According to BART, safety is their number one priority. BART currently has 4,000 working cameras around their stations and trains. BART is currently trying to solve the homeless issues on the train.Phone theft is the biggest crime on the BART.

Hygiene Problem

San Francisco BART is the second most germ-infested transit system in the US. SF BART tested high for gram-positive cocci which are common to cause skin infections.

2.1 Primary Audience

Brianna Perry

Age:

Location:

Alameda, CA

Occupation:

Store Manager

Status:

Married

Extroverted:

Cautious:

Energetic:

Tech-savvy:

Bio

Brianna works in the GAP retail store in San Francisco as the store manager. She lives in Alameda with her husband and their younger daughter. Brianna rides BART to work, five days a week. Since she always rides the BART during the rush hour, she usually experiences a very packed train. Brianna loves reading books and often reads a book while riding the BART. However, due to the limited space, she isn't always able to do that. She also hates the smell of the train, especially when there are a lot of people in it.

Bio

"I wish BART could be cleaner. It’s such a pain to deal with the smell and the dirty train everyday. "

2.2 Secondary Audience

Kevin Seymour

Age:

Location:

San Francisco, CA

Occupation:

Web Designer

Status:

Married

Extroverted:

Cautious:

Energetic:

Tech-savvy:

Bio

Eden is a web designer based in San Francisco. He lives with his wife in a small apartment, and they don't have a car. They think that it's a pain to drive and find a parking space in San Francisco. The church that Eden goes to is in Fremont. He often goes there on Friday night and comes back on Sunday. Eden likes to play on his phone and listen to music while riding the BART. His wife always tells him not to be too attached to his phone, because she worries about his safety, especially during the night time.

Bio

"I wish the BART will have a safer environment so that people don't have to worry about this all the time."

3.1 POV Exploration

[User] needs a way to [Verb] because [Surprising Insight]

In order to find the right problem for the target audience. The "Point of View" method is used to let us put ourselves into the user's situation. We generated a lot of situations during this process. Here are some examples.

3.2 HMW Exploration

How Might We...?

"How Might We" explorations based on every persona's point of view. This process is used to going through different angles help to define the problem and get inspired. A lot of HMW statements were generated during this process, here are some examples.

3.3 Find the Root Cause

Private Interview Round 2

Another round of private interviews were conducted in order to dig deeper with more specific questions.

At this stage. We had a clearer vision of the problems. After the interviews, we had more discussions and analysis of the root cause of these problems.

Find the Root Cause

With all the information we gathered, we had more discussions and analysis of the root cause of all these problems. The root cause of a lot of problems is from unwanted/suspicious people. Usually, those people don't pay for BART.

An estimated 22,000 people ride the BART every day without paying. Fare evasion costs BART between an estimated $15 million to $25 million each year. If we could reduce BART fare evasion. We could help with:

Reduce the unwanted people on the BART, helps with the packed train during rush hour.
Save money for BART so they can use it to improve the BART service/facility.

Problem Statement

How might we prevent fare evasion from non-paying BART riders by improving the entrance gate security?

4.1 Ideation

Brainstorm and Sketch out Ideas

During the ideation stage, a lot of sketches of possible solutions are generated.

4.2 Idea Validation

Find the Best Solution

With several rounds of ideation. We used colored stickers to vote for the best solution. There are 4 zones: low effort and low impact; low effort and high impact; high effort and low impact; high effort and high impact.

The ideal solution is the idea that requires the least effort but comes with a high impact.

4.3 Storyboard

Visualize the Idea with Storyboard

A storyboard is generated with the best idea that we voted for.

Aiden is an undergraduate student majoring in Biology at UC Berkely. She is very outgoing and loves to hang out with her friends on Friday night and weekends.

They like to hang out in downtown San Francisco and usually take BART there due to the pricey parking in the city.

It's a Friday night, she has a plan with her friends in one of the bars in downtown San Francisco. Aiden took her purse and walked to the Downtown Berkely BART station which is very close to her apartment.

When she arrives at the station, she found that the new fare gate now is ready to use. It's a tempered glass gate that's a lot taller than the old gate.

Aiden walked towards one of the gates and saw there is a sign on the floor stating that the rider needs to scan their card behind this line. She then hands her purse closer to the sensor located on the gate base.

The glass gate displays her clipper card balance information when the sensor detects her card.

The glass door displays her fare balance and then opened while she walks close to it (This is to prevent people from following others to get through the gate without paying for the fare ticket).

The glass gate closes right after she passed it. She felt it was convenient that she didn't need to take her clipper card out during the process.

Do People Like the Idea?

A survey is generated in order to receive people's feedback with this newly designed fare gate. This process is made to see if this is the idea worth further exploration.

Easy to Use

ALL of the participants believe that this gate is easy to use.

Preferable

The majority of the participants prefer the new gate over the old gate.

Safety

Most of the participants feel safer with this new fare gate.

5.1 Cardboard Mockup

Low-fidelity Mockup

Based on the feedback from the storyboard survey. A low-fidelity cardboard mockup with the double gate concept is made and tested with 20 participants on the street.

Low-fidelity Mockup

Based on the feedback from the storyboard survey. A low-fidelity cardboard mockup with the double gate concept is made and tested with 20 participants on the street.

Summary

ALL of the participants prefer the redesigned gate over the current one
They think that the higher gate is good.
People think that this gate will prevent ticket evasion.

Iterated and Test Again

Based on the feedback from the 1st cardboard prototype. Another mockup is built and did another round of the test. There was a total of 12 participants.

Iterated and Test Again

Based on the feedback from the 1st cardboard prototype. Another mockup is built and did another round of the test. There was a total of 12 participants.

Summary

ALL of the participants would prefer the redesigned gate over the current one
Some participants feel safer with this gate
There are split thoughts regarding the the double gates

Additional Comments

After each user testing, we did a short interview to ask how do they like this design, if there were anything that's confusing. We got valuable feedback.

5.2 Single Gate VS Double Gates

Single Gate

Sketch out an illustration with descriptions of the single gate and its pros and cons.

Single Gate

Sketch out an illustration with descriptions of the single gate and its pros and cons.

Summary

Tall gates prevent people from hopping over the BART gate and minimize fare evasion
It will not do well on preventing people sneaking behind other paid riders

Double Gates

Sketch out an illustration with descriptions of the double gates.

Double Gates

Sketch out an illustration with descriptions of the double gates.

Summary

Tall gates prevent people from hopping over the BART gate and minimize fare evasion
Double gates prevent people from sneaking behind other paid riders
According to the test, the average speed for participants to complete the process is 1 to 1.5 seconds

Survey Result

With 22 participants, the majority of people prefer to have a single gate.

5.3 A/B Testing

Sensor on the Top

With all the feedback from previous user testing, another A/B testing is created to settle some design details. There was a total of 26 participants and the majority of them want to have the location of the clipper card sensor to be on the top.

Tempered Glass Door

The majority of the participants want to have tempered glass to be the gate material.

Slide Open

The result is very close this time, there are slightly more participants who prefer to have the door to be slid open.

Fare Balance on the Gate

Most participants prefer to see the fare balance show up on the gate when they tap the clipper card.

6.1 Keywords

Bargate

A better, safer solution to current BART fare gate.

Easy to Use

Bargate keeps a similar entering process as the current gate. It's easy for people to understand how to use it.

Saves Space

Reversible gate direction allows the gate to be either an exit or an entrance.

Security

The height of the gate prevents people from hopping over it and the sensor located in the front area will ring the alarm if it detects more than one passenger trying to get through the gate.

Clear Information

Fare balance shows on the gate makes it very easy for the rider to see their clipper card/ticket information. Fare balance will disappear while sliding open to protect the rider’s privacy.

6.2 Proof of Concept

Safety

The height prevents people from hopping over the gate. The sensor located at the front area will trigger the alarm if it detects more than one passenger trying to get through.

Convenient

Clipper card sensor located at the top of the machine for easy to reach.

Convenient

Clipper card sensor located at the top of the machine for easy to reach.

Clear Information

Once the rider taps their clipper card or inserts the ticket, their fare balance will show on the tempered glass gate. When the passenger is close to the gate, the fare balance will disappear while the gate is sliding open.

Modern Look

The gate is made out of tempered glass to create a clean, modern look. The gate will slide open to let riders pass through easily.

Modern Look

The gate is made out of tempered glass to create a clean, modern look. The gate will slide open to let riders pass through easily.

The Final Product

After rounds of prototype and iteration. The final Bargate design is created with Cinema 4D.