inSource

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Define a Topic

According to March 2014 Report on prevalence of mental health conditions in the workplace by PwC, transport operators were found to be 23% more likely to have well-being and mental health challenges than others. Also, transport operators have been consistently ranked at the top of industries with these challenges.

After initial research, our team chose public transit authority vehicle operators as our target audience and as we continued our research, we realized that the target audience was too broad. As a result, we scoped our audience down to GRT transit operators.

Prepare for User Research

Before conducting user research, we made lists of assumptions that we had and questions that we wanted to explore. Some of the examples of lists are:

• Assuming there is a definable cause of mental health and well-being challenges
• Assuming all transit workers have mental health and/or well-being challenges
• Assuming better mental health and well-being will increase productivity
• What are the reasons for poor mental health and well-being for transit workers?
• What is the outcome of current well-being and mental health programs in the workplace?
• How are organizational issues weighing against mental health and well-being issues?

Whiteboarding assumptions and questions

From those assumptions and questions, we did the How Might We exercise and a Card Sorting exercise to come up with our main research question.

User Research: Survey

Key Statistics

Survey results summary

Top responsibilities include: routine bus inspection, safe operation of vehicles, being on time, navigate routes and detours, and ticketing/fares

Pain Points as a Transit Operator

• Poor shift scheduling
• Lack of support from upper management
• Always held responsible for complaints
• Rude passengers
• Physical limitations

User Research: Ethnographic Observation

To start with, we planned out our routes, dates and times for the observations. We made lists of observations that we wanted to focus on. Apart from those ethnographic observations, I conducted further research and did 10 extra observations on different routes and different buses.

Observations

• Drivers’ cabins were filled with water bottles, coffee mugs, and food such as fruits or bars
• Drivers’ seats had back supports, cushions and blankets
• Drivers’ get off during terminal stops to take a break
• When drivers are resting, they are on their cell phone, taking a smoke break or answering passenger’s questions
• Schedules are tight, which forces drivers to rush in order to be on time
• Drivers radio to communicate the current situation
• Drivers are sometimes forced to multi-task when chatting with passengers and managing ticketing fares or driving

User Research: User Interviews

After a week of ethnographic observation, our team shared each other’s observations and made questions for the user interviews. We were lucky that transit operators kindly showed us their lunch room and were able to talk in a group. Other interviews were conducted over the phone.

Possible Solutions

Possible solution ideation

Possible solutions for each of the following categories:
1. Interaction, 2. Communication, 3. Mental health/Well-being, 4. Scheduling, 5. Timing/detours

Challenge and Core Problem

We had a few interviews that gave us some challenges to work with after our inital solution ideation. After conducting interviews with both drivers and management, we realized there was a bigger problem than what we originally assumed. All the pain points pointed towards an underlying problem of a poor relationship between GRT Transit Operators and their management . At this point in time we only had two months left, so we had to quickly turn around and iterate our solution for this new problem.

Diagram of operator/management relationship

Redefining the Problem

Iterating the solution

Through a process of brainstorming and wireframing a solution, we created an open and collaborative environment for solving problems within the organization.

Prototype

We developed three components: a web platform to anonymously submit and vote for concerns, an ideation based sprint service for conflict resolution, and a follow up process that makes sure the solution is being implemented.

Web platform prototype workflow
Try it out here

The development of the web platform was not a required outcome, however we felt that it was an important component to create because:

• No single tool exists to host our framework
• We wanted to challenge ourselves to build the web platform
• We wanted proof of concept from a technology perspective

Testing

We ran tests of our proof of concept with 11 people (3 admins, 8 students). In university there are similar communication issues, so we worked within that context for this testing session. We discovered our proof of concept was effective, and the admin from the university itself was also interested in implementing our concept for their own students and administration.

Several functional tests of the web platform were conducted.

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