From Bus Stops to Non-Stop: Solving the Chaos of UUM Campus Commuting

 Introduction

Transportation is an essential aspect of daily life for students at Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM). Many students depend on campus transportation, particularly bus services, to attend classes, participate in activities, and manage their daily schedules.

An efficient and reliable transportation system is important to ensure students can move around campus conveniently and safely. However, with the increasing number of students relying on these services, challenges in the current system have become more noticeable and impactful.


Problem Statement 


Despite the availability of bus services in UUM, several issues continue to affect students’ commuting experience. The most common problems include bus delays, long waiting times, overcrowding, and inaccurate or inconsistent schedules. These issues are more severe during peak hours, early mornings, and rainy weather, where the demand for transportation is significantly higher. Our team conduct a user research and have gathered the findings . The results from the user research that we conducted shows that students often face difficulties in planning their journeys and arriving on time to classes.


In addition, the results also shows that many students rely on informal sources such as WhatsApp groups, friends, or personal assumptions to estimate bus arrival times. This reflects the absence of a centralized and reliable platform that provides real-time transportation information. Therefore, there is a clear need for a more structured and efficient solution to improve the transportation system within UUM.




User Research

We conducted in-depth interviews with 5 UUM students which is happen to be undergraduate student who lives inside and also outside of the campus.  All of the interview was made face to face and was audio recorded.  Later the audio recorded will be transferred into a text before going into the blog . The question was made in 2 language which is in Bahasa Melayu and English. The Questions was made into 5 section and which of them containing different number in each section.  To be more specific, Background Information section have 3 question, Transportation experience section have 3 questions, Problems Faced section have 5 questions, Current Behavior section have 4 questions and Improvement section also have 5 question.  This makes the total questions ask during user research is 20 questions.  Based on the user research findings, we know that each of them consistently face hurdles with the current campus transportation system, particularly those relying on bus services and "sapu". The respondents expressed deep frustration over unpredictable bus arrival times, crowded vehicles during peak hours, and a lack of reliable, real-time information. Currently, students must resort to informal "information hunting" through friends or crowded WhatsApp groups to guess when their next ride will arrive. These users explicitly stated a need for a dedicated, centralized platform that provides live GPS tracking and accurate schedules to ensure they can arrive at their classes and meetings on time.  Based on the interview, all the findings in the interview was made into an Empathy Map.  Here is example of our empathy Map;


Empathy Map


Says

  • "I'm always late because of the bus."

  • "BUS IS TOO LATE!"

  • "I need time, route, and the bus location."

  • "The bus is always full."

  • "I hope this rain doesn't affect my bus journey."

Thinks

  • "Why is it so hard to get the right info?"

  • "If I know the bus location earlier, I might not have to wait too long for the bus."

  • "What takes the bus so long?!"

  • "The current system is good, but it can be better."

Does

  • Waits for the bus.

  • Walk to destinations.

  • Use motorcycles.

  • Checks WhatsApp groups and the UUM App.

  • Asks friends for transportation update.

  • Looks for information

  • Find other alternatives when the bus is late.

Feels

  • Stress when late

  • Frustrated because late to go to class

  • Uncomfortable when the bus is pack.

  • Confuse about the bus routes

  • Unsafe about the driver's background

  • Not satisfied with the current facilities

  • Angry with limited seat

  • Tired of waiting

Core Insights



How Might We Statements(HMW)


User Persona

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