MetroSage
Empowering seniors to take the subway more confidently in NYC
Individual Project
March to June 2023
TimelineContextSkillsUser Research, UX Design, Accessibility Design
“My social life consists of doctors and store clerks — that’s a joke, but it’s pretty much true.
Lynne Ingersoll , the “Kinless”
Do NYC seniors have similar issues?
01 Facts.
Living alone remains one of the main risks for social isolation of NYC seniors.
02 What’s more?
Seniors in NYC still need to venture out via subway, their preferred mode of transportation
Venturing outside for health appointments and social interactions, including visits to senior centers, is crucial for their well-being. Access to New York City's subway system is, therefore, vital, as it is considered the most effective way for seniors to maintain their mobility and social connections.
03 What makes this even worse?
73% of 432 stations in NYC are not considered accessible under the Americans with Disabilities Act
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has set a goal to achieve accessibility standards for all stations only by the year 2055.
How might we enhance subway accessibility for seniors in NYC with digital technology, empowering them to venture out with greater ease and convenience?
Research
01 Research Methods
To further validate my problem space, I conducted semi-structured interviews with 12 members of the Edie Windsor SAGE Center to understand their pain points in taking public transportation in NYC.
The questions that were best answered:
What are your main concerns about getting to the places you want to?
How do you keep track of public transportation schedules?
What would you do if you discovered you were lost or needed help?
02 Key findings from the conversations
03 Turning insights into a journey map
Competitor Research
To better understand the market, I compared current popular transit apps MYmta, MTA(Beta), and Citymapper to analyze their strengths and weaknesses. During this time, I realized significant opportunities to enhance the digital subway experience, mainly focusing on providing easily accessible assistance and ensuring information is readily available at a glance.
MY MTA and MTA(Beta), shows the most up-to-date schedules, but the accessible trip filter applied is not reflected onto the recommended results. City Mapper provides a range of singular filter options like “step-free”, and “trains-only”, allowing users to conveniently find their preferred route. But users cannot apply multiple filters at once. There is also an information overload when there are schedule changes or outages.
Opportunities
01 How might we present the information with the least input from users?
I realized that most navigation apps on the market are identical: they require lots of inputs and interactions from users before they see the information. The complex navigation made it hard for seniors to locate information, like, is my daily route smooth?
Widgets are an excellent way to make the most critical content glanceable and easily accessible from the screen.
02 Expose the tiny unexpected things over their familiar routines
From my interviews, I noticed that most seniors’ routines are repetitive— they go to senior centers and grocery stores on weekdays and visit a doctor bi-weekly.
Why can’t we anticipate their schedules and provide content with anticipatory design when they’re heading out?
03 How can we make seniors more connected with their surroundings?
A hotline once available is now gone, and help stations in subway stations are scarce. When they’re at the station, they’re entirely on their own. How might we utilize the surroundings to offer timely help to these individuals?
Inspired by Be My Eyes, I want to create a platform that connects seniors with nearby volunteers. Finding help using Bluetooth within close physical proximity is more efficient, especially when signal issues are underground.
04 How can the volunteers find our users in a crowd?
The subway stations are usually pretty busy. To ensure our volunteers can identify our users from the crowd, I adopted the spotlight feature from Uber, adding a noticeable color screen that allows volunteers to spot our users easily.
Iterating with low-fidelity
I mapped out my concept in low fidelity to see what the overall flow looked like.
Final Design
Introducing MetroSage
MetroSage is an app that utilizes anticipatory design to provide glanceable information and instant help for seniors as they navigate through the NYC subway.
01
Glance your routine via a widget on your screen
We offer glanceable content about your routine via widgets. Glance your route condition and head out confidently!
02
From simple cards to detailed alternatives
Anticipated schedules and real-time subway conditions are provided on a simple card that users can directly consume. Take a look at the additional details or alternative routes by clicking on the card!
03
Look for a hand nearby when you’re at the station.
When you reach the subway station, the screen will automatically reflect your location and the following trains.
We understand that it could be awkward sometimes to ask for help. But don’t worry; we’ll bring the volunteers to you just with one click.
04
Provide your feedback to make the community better.
We know seniors are concerned with their safety, so we offer a review option for our users to rate their experience and help make the platform a better space.
If you had a great experience with our volunteers, you can save your preferred volunteer to your favorite list.
If you are unsatisfied with your experience, we take this seriously and will contact the volunteer. You will not be matched with the same volunteer next time.
Reflections…
After reading the article from the New York Times, I noticed that more and more seniors in NYC face similar problems. I wanted to create a solution that makes finding timely assistance easier for senior citizens. Even if they live independently, they can still feel the warmth and care of society from those willing to offer a hand.
If I had more time, I’d continue to flesh out the flows to include all the edge cases and conduct usability testing with members from the SAGE center to ensure that the app is simple and intuitive.
I am excited about the prospect of expanding my idea and transforming it into a platform that will help seniors find immediate assistance, regardless of their location. Imagine a platform similar to Uber, but instead of calling for rides, it connects seniors with nearby volunteers. They will be able to view the volunteers who are currently available and, if connected, see how far away the volunteer is from their location.
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