Keywords

1 Introduction

Public transport plays a fundamental role in citizens’ life quality and nation’s economic progress [1]. Additionally, it has repercussions in job generation, industry strengthening, and social wealth creation [2]. The promotion of sustainable mobility minimizes negative social, economic and environmental externalities. Furthermore, it contributes to the structuring of more compact, clean, safe, active and healthy cities, providing greater and better opportunities to the inhabitants [3].

Lima, the capital of Perú, is the third largest city and the fifth most populous in Latin America [4]. Consequently, it has considerable mobility needs: 68.8% of the Peruvian public transport fleet is located in Lima [5] and more than 70% of trips made there are related to public transport [6]. According to “Lima Cómo Vamos 2016” survey, it is estimated that 80% of Lima citizens use public transport regularly [7]. However, the same survey mentions that 54% of Peruvian people consider public transport service as bad or very bad and 46% consider public transport related problems as the second most serious problem facing Lima, right after citizen insecurity.

In order to understand the problems that plague Lima´s public transport, we must acknowledge its course of development and the reasons behind its evolution. From the second half of the 20th century, Lima suffered a demographic explosion due to migration from the countryside to the city [8]. Between 1940 and 2007, the city had a population increase of 1300% [4]. Public transport, managed directly by the State, was not enough [9]. Informal transporters began to proliferate, offering lower prices and new routes without complying with the regulation. Nonetheless, Lima faced a severe shortage of public transport, which affected 90% of the population [9].

In this context, multiple State decrees were approved in 1991 that completely liberalized the service. Regulations on companies, minimum fares, and delimited routes and vehicles restrictions were removed and the importation of second-hand vehicles was allowed. Informality was institutionalized [10]. In this manner, Lima went from having an over demand of transport to an oversupply of obsolete, polluting and unprepared public transport units [4, 10,11,12].

In 1998, new measures were taken to control the chaos that prevailed. The qualifying title, needed to provide the service, was reintroduced. The title also established a limited number of routes per concessionaire. The concessionaires could only be companies and would have responsibility for the infractions committed in their routes. However, these measures did not specify that the fleet must belong to the concessionaires.

Faced with this legal loophole, so-called “shell companies” were formed. They obtained the concessions of the routes from the Municipality and then they outsourced the fleet. However, the outsourcing company wouldn’t provide the service directly, through non-labor relations they agreed with drivers to perform the operational service. In this way, neither the concessionaire company nor the owner company assumed responsibility for the drivers, but the profits.

This situation is what is known as “Cent’s War”. Bus drivers do not earn a fixed salary or receive work benefits, so they needed to work more than 12 h daily where their profit is proportional to the number of passengers they carry. Quality ceases to be a consideration in this system, since the economic stability of the workers, who are usually low-income people, depends on their daily earnings. This causes the effects presented in Table 1.

Table 1. Noxious effects of Lima public transport system.
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As it has been shown, the problem of public transport in Lima city is complex and has its roots in poor government decisions. On one hand, companies have acted reactive to the problems of the city, instead of having a culture of prevention and planning. On the other hand, the citizens of Lima do not receive a quality public transport system that meets their basic needs. This has happened because of the scarcity of reliable information in a timely manner for decision making. The city of Lima does not have a static nature, on the contrary, it is in constant change. The only alternative for transport companies to anticipate the new needs of urban mobility is through the efficient use of information technologies.

Additionally, it has been demonstrated that the information obtained from information technologies contributes to strengthen the relations of the organizations with their clients [13]. The positive results of the information systems and the management of the relationship with customers are diverse and widely documented as client prioritization [14], retention of new clients [15], user satisfaction [16], business efficiency [17], customer loyalty [18], impact on the market and corporate image [19] and business profitability [20].

To mitigate the public transport problems that afflict Lima city, a new project arises. The mentioned project seeks to empower the decision making of companies, improve the existing relationship with passengers, to meet the information needs of each and to control the effects of the problem that put at risk the opportunities and quality of life of the Lima inhabitants. Although the project is focused on having an impact on Lima, the built solution can be replicated in any other city with similar issues.

The project solution is an ecosystem of applications, each with a target and a set of objectives. The projects includes a mobile application for passengers, an mobile application for company managers, a mobile application for bus drivers, a web application for bus companies and web server. This paper we present exclusively the design process behind the development of the mobile application for passengers.

In this sense, the solution designed must take into consideration the needs of the users, as well as the experience of them while using the product, to increase the chances of real success and impact on a real environment. This is why several techniques will be used to ensure the usability of the product, starting from the user-centered design and refining the solution through various evaluation strategies.

2 Preliminary Research

2.1 Papers and Related Work

Mobile Application with Information of Public Transport Routes in Lima from the User’s Location

This project develops an application for mobile phones that can list the routes of urban public transport companies in Lima city taking as input data the user’s location information [21].

Bus-Station-Passenger Intelligent Information System

This project develops a GPS information system to monitor the location of public transport buses in the city and deliver this information in a timely manner to passengers through screens at bus stops with an estimated time of arrival of the bus and transport companies [22].

2.2 Software and Related Products

TuRuta

TuRuta is a Peruvian application that seeks to help passengers know the lines to take to get from one place to another in Lima city. The information comes from a passenger community [23] (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1.
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Screenshots from TuRuta application

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Moovit

Moovit is a mobile application that lists the public transport routes of many cities in the world (including Lima) and shows the ways to get from one place to another. Also, estimate the arrival time by consulting public information about the traffic. It obtains its information from its users [24] (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2.
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Screenshots from Moovit application

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3 System Design

3.1 Formative Test

Objective

  • Identify what is most important to passengers and focus the solution on delivering value to them.

  • Adjust and refine the profile of the target audience, based on information collected in interviews with subjects who comply with the profile defined later.

Recruiting Participants

Young people from 15 to 30 years of age who are mainly mobilized by public transport buses. They have a medium-high-end cell phone and are interested in using technology to solve their daily problems.

Methodology

Following the methodology proposed by Rubin and Chisnell [25], two semi-structured questionnaires were prepared: the first one with 30 questions for passengers, to further segment the target audience and make the solution more personalized.

The questionnaires were sent in advance to the study subjects and later personal interviews were conducted with an average duration between 20 and 40 min. The scope of the interview was 15 passengers, which were chosen due to their similarities with the previously defined profile.

Results

The data plan is totally related to the specifications of the users’ devices. As the applications will be used during the public transport routes in the city, they must be constantly connected to the Internet.

Approximately, 80% have Android devices. However, the specifications of these Android devices are varied. If we only consider those devices considered as high-end and that have a broad mobile data plan, the rate Android vs. iOS is 5 for every 3. It is for this reason that we will cover both platforms in the solution.

Among all the interviewees, we see a high level of use of social networks such as Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. The proposed solution must take advantage of this common factor to be able to acquire new users.

In relation to the use of taxi applications such as Uber, EasyTaxi and TaxiBeat, we see that in most cases, it is inversely proportional to the frequency of use of the public transport system. In addition, the degree of use is usually absolute: either they do not use taxi applications or they use them assiduously. We see a great opportunity to replicate this usage in those who use public transport frequently.

Users’ appreciation of public transport in the city is similar to that presented in the “Lima Como Vamos 2016” survey [7], since many consider the service as bad. Regarding companies, the most repeated qualifier is “informal”. They consider that companies care little or nothing about the satisfaction of their passengers. However, none have tried to communicate with the companies to present their complaints.

Of the problems presented, users are identified mainly with “Units full and people hanging”. Secondly: “Imprudence in driving” and “Disinformation on routes and stops”. In third place “Irregular Collections” and “Rivalry among operators”.

3.2 Personas Creation

From these meetings, profiles of potential users benefited by the solution have been drawn up, which will then be presented through the technique of creating people [26]. This technique consists of the creation of imaginary characters that will represent potential users and whose expectations are assumptions based on interviews with real users [27]. Thus, the subsequent design of the solution will be focused on the users, considering their goals, desires and frustrations (Figs. 3, 4 and 5).

Fig. 3.
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Persona 1

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Fig. 4.
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Persona 2

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Fig. 5.
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Persona 3

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3.3 Interactive Prototype

We envision a cloud-based community-driven mobile app that updates passengers with real information about buses. The application should deliver useful indicator for the passengers such as the exact location of the vehicles in a map, an estimated time for arrival to next bus stops, the size of the unit, the fullness, etc.

Passengers should have the possibility to share with the community information about the bus they are travelling on, and to evaluate their travel experience. This is information is really important for transport companies that are compromised with continuous improvement of their service. Passengers should also be able to share in real-time their GPS location during the time they are inside the buses, so users can locate buses in a map.

It is predictable that this behavior, of passengers sharing their current position, may not be precise or reliable. That’s the reason the project also includes bus companies. Companies that have agreed with this project will share in real time the position of their vehicles with other application of the project, aimed for bus drivers. In exchange, companies will have the feedback from their passengers in relation to the service they provide (Fig. 6).

Fig. 6.
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Initial app concept prototypes

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4 Design Evaluation

4.1 Expert Heuristic Evaluation

The interfaces received a usability analysis applying the heuristic evaluation method by experts not involved in the project. The experts received the functional prototypes of the solution’s interfaces and presented a report with the identified problems, relating each one of these with Nielsen’s heuristic that is not met.

The experts identified 15 problems. With this feedback, we redesigned the prototypes, in order to evaluate them again with potential users. The final prototypes are presented in the following image (Fig. 7).

Fig. 7.
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Final app concept prototype

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4.2 Summative Test

Objective

To validate the usability of the developed solution, it was decided to perform a summative study of usability with potential users. The solution will be qualified as valid when it is useful, efficient, effective, satisfactory, understandable and accessible.

Research Questions

  1. 1.

    Do the objectives and motivations obtained in the previous exploratory study case have been efficiently reflected in the solution?

  2. 2.

    How easily do the participants find the information they were looking for?

  3. 3.

    How successful are the participants performing the requested tasks?

  4. 4.

    How long do they take on average to complete the requested tasks?

  5. 5.

    What are the obstacles that users encounter when carrying out the main flow of use of the solution?

Methodology

A case of summative study was prepared and executed, following the methodology proposed by Rubin and Chisnell [25].

In this case study participants are asked to perform specific tasks with the solution, in order to analyze their interaction with the implemented tool. The role of the moderator is to resolve doubts about the tasks to be performed, without influencing the actions of the participants.

In addition, a test was performed before and after the interaction of the participants with the solution in order to obtain quantitative measures of their opinion on the proposed solution in the context of the problem. The oral and written opinions they recorded will serve as qualitative information and will be presented in the analysis section.

The participants will sign a meeting certificate as a physical means of verifying the performance of the test. The identities are not associated with the answers and only serve to confirm the realization of the test with real users.

Session Schedule

The first 3 min will be a brief introduction about the methodology to follow during the evaluation. Then, they will perform the pre-test for 5 min. Subsequently, start the interaction with the solution for 10 min. Finally, the post-test will last 5 min. A total duration of the experiment of 25 min is approximated.

Tasks

The list of tasks that participants will be asked to perform using the solution developed is shown in the following Table 2.

Table 2. Task list
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Location And Setup

The test must be conducted in a controlled, closed and silent environment, in which there are no elements that can distract attention or affect the interaction between the participants and the solution developed.

The necessary equipment is mobile devices and computers with internet access for each participant, both elements must connect with internet connection.

Results

The quantifiable results obtained in the evaluation are presented in the following graphs (Fig. 8):

Fig. 8.
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Study results

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Analysis

  • In the graph “Problem vs. Solution”, we see that almost all the problems presented are considered between serious and very serious.

  • Question 2 (traffic rules), 3 (rivalry between operators) and 11 (vehicles in poor condition) are related to transport companies. In the introduction of the study only contextualized on the problems of public transport and the relationship with a possible mobile application.

  • Question 6 (irregular collections) is not considered in the final iteration proposed in the present project, so its low rating is foreseen.

  • The qualification in questions 4 (excessive number of passengers), 8 (disinformation of routes), 9 (communication with companies) and 12 (indefinite hours) is very positive.

  • Question 1, regarding the impact of the solution on the general situation of transport, is that it improves it by 57%.

  • Question 13 (possibility of solution) and 14 (interest in solution) are not greatly affected by the influence of the solution.

  • Question 15, about the number of participants who want to use the application after the evaluation, was little reduced.

  • As there is no prior evaluation, the baseline for the average time per task is estimated at 2 min. On average, no task exceeds the established threshold.

  • We see that the tasks that have produced the most conflicts with the users are task 6 (“Upload a bus”) and 7 (“Give information”).

  • Among the suggestions recommended by users, many of these had been considered as functionalities, but due to resource limitations, it was decided to postpone it for future versions. Recommendations are related to “Search engine for lines”, “Estimated times”, “Travel progress”, “Intelligent use of data”, “Final report”, “External report”, “Multiple reports”, “Level information”.

5 Conclusions and Future Work

A mobile application was designed, with the needs and interests of public transport passengers in Lima city. We conducted a formative test with potential users. As a result, we created personas inspired by the interview participants. In addition, we built an interactive prototype in pursuance of conducting an expert heuristic evaluation and summative tests with real users.

The next challenge proposed by this project is to scale the information technology infrastructure that supports the solution in order to be able to cope smoothly with a larger number of users. If the developed solution really wants to impact the public transport situation in Lima, it is fundamental to perform a refactoring of the server architecture and other components. Stress tests should be done, among other non-functional evaluations, to ensure the continuity of the service when concurrently serving hundreds of passengers and transport companies, and even more, if you want to replicate this solution in other cities, both in Peru and in other cities in Latin America.

On the other hand, once the solution goes into a production environment, there will be an immense amount of passenger location data. These data are the key to understanding the way in which the city is mobilized, the places that require more attention from the authorities or that may be a great business opportunity for companies. It is for this reason that research is also proposed related to computer science that exploits the large amount of data available, effectively and efficiently, to be able to anticipate the needs of the city and make changes proactively, instead of waiting to have an untenable situation to decide to take action.