Earlier case study

Making commuting easier with real-time bus tracking

Overview

In 2019, Coach USA was purchased by a private equity firm who saw a promising future in the seasoned transportation company. Without any digital solutions, the firm saw this opportunity as a clean slate to start fresh.

I was brought on as a UX Consultant to build out a digital strategy while supporting the team tactically on immediate website improvements.

Coach USA personalized homeCoach USA bus route detailsCoach USA route map

Duration

3 months

My role

Design lead

Impact

  • Delivered a comprehensive digital strategy
  • Improved the online booking experience
  • Created the first iteration of the Coach USA mobile app
01

Role &
Context

Building the future while supporting the immediate launch

I was brought on as a UX Consultant to build out a digital strategy while supporting the team tactically on immediate website improvements.

When I joined the company, a team of designers, product and developers was already formed to begin developing an online booking channel on the Coach USA website. I was focused on supporting the launch of their BETA release of online booking simultaneously with building a strategy for the future products and features.

02

Design
Question

How might Coach USA reimagine their digital customer experience?

03

Research

Understanding the company, customers, and market

Company Deep Dive

I wanted to understand the historical context, the current situation and what were the business goals through subject matter expert interviews with key business stakeholders.

Generative Interviews

Since we were starting fresh, conducting generative interviews made the most sense to understand user's pain points and to hatch new product ideas.

Competitive Analysis

I identified our competitors in similar markets and evaluated their product offerings to determine gaps and opportunities.

Research findings

  • The company wanted to catch up to market demand and competitors
  • Passengers were desperate for online ticketing
  • Passengers wanted more mobile capabilities for a convenient traveling experience
  • The company was slow to adopt digital solutions compared to the market
04

Strategy

Website enhancements

I started with the immediate requests of improving the online booking platform by incorporating a staged approach to combining bus schedules and purchasing tickets into one site.

Combined the schedules and fares experiences together

Mobile app offering

I created the first iteration of what a Coach USA mobile app could look like that incorporated what users asked for such as searching bus routes, journey planning, route explortations via map and user personalization.

Personalized home
Bus search
Bus route details
Exploring the map view
05

Launched
Experience

A while later, I checked on the app stores to experience the launch and to my delight, it finally launched with minor adjustments which is normal as the app gets developed. There are a few differences in the app and some features seemed to have been deprioritized in favor of launching sooner.

Buy tickets home
Bus routes
Current bus tickets
06

Conclusion &
Retrospective

After 3 months of work, I successfully delivered a comprehensive digital strategy and handed it off to the in-house designers to carry the efforts forward. The timeline was tight but thankfully, I was able to deliver on the initial goal along with additional, unplanned requests such as building out a customer support admin portal for the support team.

What I would've done differently

  • Define expectations and the role more clearly to avoid unexpected scope creep
  • Allow for more time to conduct deeper user research to better guide design decisions

Explore more work

J.P. Morgan Chase Connect platformJ.P. Morgan ChaseHelping advisors capture a client’s holistic financial portfolioView case study Fossil Q smartwatch appFossil QReimagining how people customize their hybrid smartwatchView case study Prudential retirement app design processPrudentialHelping people manage retirement investments on the goView case study