Methods
After thinking through all the options, I decided to conduct my user research observation on the train of Seattle’s link light rail. The reason I chose this location is that there are usually many empty seats for me to sit so that I can minimize the influence of my presence among the passengers. Moreover, the trains provide me a comfortable environment to observe more efficiently because trains are brighter, more capacious, smooth and steady than buses. I did some quick writing and rough sketching for jotting methods. My writing was not complete sentences at all, but it is the most common way to record one’s observation. Sketching provided me a visualized situation that was hard to describe by words. These two combined methods allowed me to record my observation that is almost only recognizable to myself. Usually as a passenger myself, I decided to identify common practices, discover contemporary issues through this user research opportunity. I hope I can help improve the commuting condition, in some way, so that all the passengers can have a better commuting experience.
Three Practices
1. Passengers tapping ORCA card at a yellow card reader
This is the card tapping practice. Before boarding the train, many passengers will tap their ORCA at a yellow card reader at the station. The age of these passengers is evenly distributed, including teenagers, college students, and the older generation. I do not witness any children tapping the card. The youngest one is about middle school age. Most of the passengers seem like know the rule very well because they know that they have to tap their cards both at the beginning station and destination station. These passengers usually hold their cards in their hands before they come to the reader and they can finish tapping card very quickly. However, some of the passengers look like tourists because they are seeking for help to make sure if they need to tap their card both before boarding and after getting off the train. The passengers interact with the link station through tapping their cards to board or get off the train. Besides from simply tapping the card at the card reader, I also notice that some of the passengers would like to check their balance of their card. By providing the information of their ORCA account on the screen of the reader increases the interaction between passengers and the link station.
2. Passengers interacting with electronic devices
This is the electronic devices interaction practice. On the train to Westlake, I notice that most of the passengers are interacting with their electronic devices. These passengers are mainly younger generations. They are using either smartphones, wearable devices, Kindles, tablets, or laptops. Most of the passengers interact with their electronic devices with only one hand. People who are using their laptops interact with their devices in the position of holding their devices on their laps and lowering their heads. However, some of the passengers won’t interact with their electronic devices directly. These passengers keep their devices, mostly smartphones, in their pockets or bags with earphones plugged in. Most of them are not talking over earphones so that they might be listening to music. Other than listening, I also notice that passengers are doing interactive activities which include reading, typing, playing mobile games, and even talking over phones. Through observation, I notice that not many passengers are using the network on their devices. This might due to the poor signal in most parts of the link tunnel. However, I find that more people are connected to public wifi in certain parts of the link tunnel (from Westlake to Pioneer Square, for example). Between these two stations, it is obvious the portion of passengers who are interacting with their devices using networks is increased. This indicates that the passengers are doing most of the activities with their devices based on the internet.
3. Passengers chatting with each other
This is the passengers chatting practice. While I am doing the field jotting, I notice that many passengers are chatting with each other on the train. The age of chatting passengers is not evenly distributed. Most of the conversations are observed among seniors and middle-aged. A few conversations are observed among younger generations, and most of them happen in passengers who have company. Most of the chatting people have either constant eye contacts, direct physical touch, or boarding and getting off the train at the same stations. Based on these actions, these passengers seem to be familiar with each other. I also notice that seniors who have no accompany tend to talk to the passenger who sits next to them and does not seem busy. Usually, seniors will bring up some topics, and the one who sits next to them will response politely. I cannot identify an obvious pattern of their conversations because the content of these conversations varies. Several topics I overheard include personal relationship, personal experience, academic behavior, preference of food, and destination of commuting. Passengers are not only chatting through verbal language, but also communicating through sign languages such as hand-waving, and facial expressions. The environment of the conversations has an impact on passengers regarding the conversation duration. The duration of these chatting is about the same amount of time as the commuting duration. This is because passengers usually start chatting after boarding and stop before getting off the train.
Interesting Practices
The most interesting practice I observe is the first one: some passengers who are not familiar with the tapping system often stand in from of the card reader for a longer time and look around seeking for help. According to their reaction, this card tapping practice will make them confused and impatient. It is interesting because this practice raised the design challenge of how to help unfamiliar passengers to used the card reader system and therefore improve the commuting experience. A possible direction for further research is the turnstile. One plausible explanation of why unfamiliar passengers get confused with the card reader is that there are missing constraints that can stop passenger boarding or get off without tapping their card. Therefore, future design of the light rail system can look into certain constraints such as turnstile and help unfamiliar passengers figure out when they should tap their card.
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