Understanding Collective Transportation in Puerto Rico — My Research Journey
When analyzing the public transportation system in Puerto Rico, context is important. This allows us to gain an understanding of the present conditions of the system.
In this post, I summarize my findings on the Pisicorre, Puerto Rico’s shared-taxi system, which were gathered through personal experience, informal interviews and secondary research. These findings lead to a general understanding of the public transportation ecosystem in Puerto Rico.
Note: Interviews, surveys and the generative research process were interrupted by the recent hurricane and are postponed. However, personal experience, informal interviews, and secondary research provide sufficient information for a good territory overview of the Pisicorre and other public transportation systems in Puerto Rico.
Research Goals
To establish a goals for the research process, I asked some questions :
- Why is Puerto Rico’s public transportation system so deficient?
- How does the lack of schedule affect users?
- What is the current state of the Pisicorre?
- What causes dissatisfaction in both passengers and drivers?
- How can users be empowered to improve the system?
Historical context
In the beginning of the 20th century, with the arrival of the automobile, Puerto Rico established a collective of taxi-style transportation called the Pisicorre. The Pisicorre system did not have a centralized organization nor direct support from the government. Even so, it developed a certain type of loose organization. Routes were established, with some regulation from central government, as well as support from the municipalities through the construction of terminals.
After the 1940s, the so-called “Modernization” movement in Puerto Rico prioritized private vehicle ownership over public and collective transportation. Since then, Puerto Rico has become one of the most paved places in the world with a total of 26,862 km of paved streets, making it the 9th country in the world with most roads relative to its size. Additionally, urban development has dispersed the population into suburbs, shifting car ownership from a commodity to a necessity.
In Puerto Rico, to have a car is not a commodity, it is a necessity.
The prioritization of the car over other methods of transportation has shaped the landscape of the country, both physically and economically. This is made evident by the limited range of public transportation and the lack of walkable areas in the metropolitan areas. The automobile is a necessity. There are approximately 635 cars for every 1000 inhabitants, with 15,000 cars entering circulation each month.
By the 1990’s, public collective transportation had declined in use due to it’s inefficiency and inability to support Puerto Rico’s transportation needs.
This lack of reliable public transportation has a direct effect in the possibilities for economic growth for many families in Puerto Rico, as Dr. Criseida Navarro Díaz explains in her presentation, La geografía de la desigualdad y el transporte colectivo en Puerto Rico.
Public transportation services in PR
The Metropolitan Bus Authority (AMA) is operated by the Department of Transportation and Public Works (DTOP) and the Integrated Transportation Authority (ATI).
Although it has a “schedule”, it is largely understood as unreliable. AMA buses are known to run from 60 to 90 minutes behind schedule, making it ineffective as a reliable means of transportation.
The Tren Urbano is a railway system that connects the municipalities of Bayamón, Guaynabo and San Juan, with a 7.52 km railroad track.
The majority of its users are workers and students, with the median living in areas bordering the stations. Most arrive at the train stations either in their private cars, or dropped off by a relative or friend, since the connections to other methods of public transportation are limited.
Private buses
There are a few private companies that service specific routes. Some work like Pisicorre, but they use a large bus due to greater traffic. Some companies need reservations in advance, and will travel greater distances on the island, 3 to 4 hours away. However, its circulation and fleet are smaller than other methods of public transportation.
Pisicorre
This is the oldest and most consistent transportation system on the island, and the only one that provides service to the entire country. The vehicles are privately owned, usually by the driver or several drivers. Sometimes these drivers are organized into associations determined by routes and regions.
One key factor in the service is the lack of schedule. The service is available roughly between 6:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m, with fewer and fewer pisicorres extending outside of these hours.
Departure times depend on the amount of passengers. Once 13 to 16 people have loaded the bus, the driver will typically decide to leave. It is not uncommon to wait 50–90 minutes for departure. Some terminals have a “dispatcher” that announce to potencial passengers when a certain bus is about to depart. The routes are predetermined and usually connect from town to town, high traffic areas (medical centers, commercial areas) or to rural areas.
Once a trip has been started, there are no predetermined stops for drop-off or pick-up. To de-board, the passenger has to tell the driver where to stop. It’s also ok to pick up passengers at any time during the journey. Passengers must signal the driver when destination is approaching.
Equipment — Vehicles
Typically, the vehicles are Van type based on Ford Transit style models, designed for 13 passengers. Vehicles may exceed 30 years of age, and are often do not have air conditioning, which can make the route more uncomfortable, specially considering the hot tropical climate of the island.
User findings
Through the research, I generated a profile for drivers and passengers. Passengers divided into two main categories: the frequent and the occasional user.
Drivers:
There’s is no accessible data regarding the number of Pisicorre drivers in Puerto Rico. Nonetheless, it is evident that the number of drivers has been consistently declining in the last decade.
According to ethnologist J. Stinson Fernández Ph. D., in his book, En la parada de la guagua: Breves notas etnográficas sobre la cultura económica de las Pisicorre en Bayamón y Rio Piedras y su relación con el Tren Urbano. Spanish (2013), from 2004 to 2005, the Puerto Rican government granted or renewed 3,887 licenses for independent drivers. However, this number also includes other types of professional drivers (such as truck drivers), and is not indicative of the actual amount of Pisicorre drivers. These drivers, predominantly men in their 40’s and 50’s, are generally low income workers who find themselves in need of work after reaching the age of retirement.
Passengers
Frequent passengers
Frequent passengers are predominantly adult women who can exceed 65 years of age, and who rely on public transportation to do government or medical errands. It is believed that many may be unemployed and in need of the benefits of government housing, food or health services to manage social stability. Typically, this sector does not have access to the continuous use of a car.
The accessibilities needs of the users may vary. Although these vehicles do not comply with easy access, empathy and familiarity can be observed with these users, who are often recognized by the drivers.
Occasional passengers
Students (mainly college students) who belong to lower-middle class working families, usually do not have continuous access to personal vehicles; they mostly use the system to get to and from school. Typically, if a person can afford a car, they will own one. Workers that use the Pisicorre system may do so because special circumstances, be it economic or otherwise, prohibit them from accessing a car. These users generally have access to internet connection, mainly through their phones, and have general confidence in the use of technologies.
With this in mind, I began to envision the key findings of the research.
Research Findings
Key findings
- Historically, there is no genuine interest on the part of the government to have a robust public transportation system and to replace private vehicles. The system should run independently of any central governance, thus empowering both drivers and users.
- Due to the deficiency of the system, lack of trust overpowers any improvement of the transportation system. The experience should promote trust in the system.
- The unpredictability of the system and the lengthy wait times, are the cause of tension and doubt in the passengers. Keeping the user informed alleviates doubt and increases confidence in the system.
- The Pisicorre system is disorganized and in need of restructuring. However the government and many drivers have resisted change. The tool should inspire drivers to change their behavior, rather than been “forced” to change by means of government regulations.
- It must be an accessible solution within people’s reach.
- Increased reliability leads to increased confidence from the user, and this encourages continuous use of the transportation system. It encourages a change in the way public transportation is perceived.
Pain Points
I mapped out the passenger experience based on my personal experience and information gathered through informal conversations. I later synthesized those findings into a Journey Map. In this map there are find 2 pain points where users are commonly frustrated, which may be the primary cause for not using the service.
Pain point #1
To begin, users must prepare to arrive at a pick-up point, this may be an established bus station (where buses begin and end their routes) or at a pick-up spot en-route (these are typically improvised). Generally, the exact point where passengers should wait for buses is not clear, even at the bus stations.
Pain point #2
Since the time of departure is uncertain, passengers need to account for this and include an ample amount of time to their route. This applies for both waiting at a bus station and waiting on route. If the passenger is waiting at the station, the bus may not be there or may be waiting for more passengers to fill the cabin before departure. When waiting on route, the passenger has no way on knowing if a bus has just passed, is on it’s way or will be coming at all.
The main loss of motivation happens when waiting for the bus to depart or arrive. Lack of itinerary and unpredictability are the main reasons why potential users would rather not use the Pisicorre.
Insights
- To build trust in the system, the experience must build trust, confidence in the driver.
- The system must empower and give a voice to its users and be easily integrated into their routines.
- Motivate good behavior. Reward drivers who made a good trip and noting where there could be improvements.
- Encourage collaboration and community. Promote self-organization through a sense of community and use the feeling of belonging to something bigger to build an ecosystem that keeps the community connected.
- Predictability. Allow the user to plan and mobilize. Visibility into how the transportation system works is important.
Moving Forward to Design
With this research, I take a holistic approach to re-designing what is now an outdated and defective transportation system. The defining characteristics of flexibility, route infrastructure for the entire island, loose regulation, make it a great candidate for a transportation design challenge.
Moving forward, I focus on the Occasional User, whose profile can be leveraged to increase demand for the Pisicorre, through the introduction of technology. This would have an major impact on service, use and overall satisfaction.
With this in mind, I explored possibilities, using the design process to create Pisicorre, a smartphone application for improving accesible public transportation in Puerto Rico.
Pisicorre- Empowering Collective Transportation in Puerto Rico
