Transperth Assist
Transperth is Perth’s public transport provider, with services including buses, trains and ferries.
Developed to assist visually impaired users navigate Perth Busport’s dynamic stand management system (DSMS), Transperth Assist ensures that all Transperth patrons can access relevant and timely information.
Co-designed with Hatchd Digital, the iOS and Android mobile apps use a phone’s native accessibility features, like voice-over to announce bus stand allocation and integrates with the DSMS for real-time updates.
The initial brief was a unique problem. Similar to an airport, the new Perth Busport features a state of the art Dynamic Stand Management System that allocates buses to different stands every minute. Passengers take a seat and large departure screens display the stand and time their bus is leaving two to five minutes before its arrival or departure. A first of its kind in Australia, this new system delivers a 50 per cent increase in the number of buses that go through the station each day.
But what if you were vision impaired?
This great technology is lost on those who can’t see the the changing stands and screens; in fact, it makes it harder for them to catch the bus. This is the challenge the PTA approached us to help them crack.
A working, tested solution needed to be developed within two months for the busport's imminent opening. Working with Hatchd, we started by analysing the problem and investigating how similar ones had been solved.
Once we’d thoroughly investigated the existing methods, we began forming a proposed solution, and we spoke with the people who would use it. We needed to understand their travelling experience from start to finish, the problems they face and whether they felt our ideas would bring relief. They told us about their transit challenges and how the various solutions available to them helped and where they fell short. We showed them basic sketch prototypes and they gave us their candid feedback.
The native accessibility functionalities of Android and iOS were the perfect fit; coupled with location awareness technology, it enabled us to deliver timely, relevant information right when passengers would need it. And it would always be with them, in their pocket or bag.
With the prototypes and the feedback, we were able to begin developing the app using the native accessibility features of Android and iOS, and integrating with a DynamoDB NoSQL database for the live bus information. The vision impaired can choose to switch on the features they need, such as specific gestures, or voiceover to have the device read bus departure details in real time.
The app also checks for the device's location when it is launched. If it detects it's in a specifically geofenced area around the Perth Busport, it will automatically monitor and alert a person of a favourite bus stand allocation. That way a person is notified as soon as a stand is allocated so they know where to depart from in the next two to five minutes.
This approach lent itself well to delivering the app, and it was ready three weeks ahead of the Perth Busport launch.
The app is available for free from Apple's App Store and Google Play.