Bus# (Bus-Sharp)

A lightweight utility app to manage public transport in the Wellington region. Visit welly.live!

About

Bus# is a lightweight utility mobile application. The app allows users to easily access public transportation information for the Wellington region. The target audience will encompass anyone of all ages that will use Wellingtons public transportation system. Existing applications in this marketplace lack certain features and usability that Bus# aims to address.

Features

Key features of the Bus# application are listed below. Each feature also lists why it is a feature in this app.

• Save your favourite bus stops: Saving your favourite bus stops allows users to quickly navigate to commonly used stops and view its timetable. The idea is to remove navigation through the app (and larger load times) to find a particular stop.

• Save your favourite bus services: Saving your favourite bus services allows users to quickly navigate to commonly used bus services and view their routes. The idea is to remove navigation through the app (and larger load times) to see the route of a service.

• View all upcoming services that will stop by a given bus stop: Being able to view all upcoming services that will stop by a given stop will allow users to see the information displayed on electronic bus signs without having to go down to the street to view the sign. This allows users to see when the next viable bus will arrive.

• View timetable for a given bus service: Users who know what bus they are taking will also like to know where the bus is, and when it will be at a stop near them. This aids with users planning a trip, or who are waiting on a bus and would like to know where it is.

• Integrate with Metlink API to get live updates: Traffic is hard to predict. Although bus timetabling is often near enough to be accurate, unexpected traffic delays can mean that a bus is late for arrival or the trip can take longer. By informing the users of these delays, users can mitigate any issues that may arise with these delays.

• Integrate with Google maps to support bus route mapping: Google maps has a fast and effective API for mapping routes. Using this technology over other mapping APIs will allow the user the best experience.

• Schedule a reminder to leave for a bus stop: By scheduling a reminder, users can set up a regular time table that will notify them when they are needing to leave such that they don't forget their bus. This feature is crucial for those with busy lives and schedules, as it removes another thing to remember.

• Add bus stops and services from a map preview (Google maps): Interactions with this application should come as second nature to its users. Although a provided help menu will be available to users, this feature intends to make searching and saving bus routes and stops easier for the user.

• Pivot seamlessly between a service and bus stop: This feature aims at allowing a user to use Bus# effectively almost immediately.

Competition

Bus# won't be the first app on mobile to help users navigate public transportation in Wellington. However, we see issues with the applications that are currently available and aim to learn from these implementations about how to make an effective public transportation application. Listed below are the pros and cons we found with two of the biggest competitors in this market space.

• Bus++: A lightweight app to manage bus stop times.

  • Pros
    • Lightweight
    • Quick to view stop information
    • Scheduling reminders is great.
  • Cons
    • Lacking useful information such as service timetable.
    • Lack of visual feedback (i.e Courtenay Place stop A vs B)

• Metlink: The official app for transit in Wellington

  • Pros
    • Lots of information.
    • Many features.
    • Live information.
  • Cons
    • Very large
    • Can't search for bus services.
    • Runs slow
    • Confusing
    • Uses a lot of data.
    • Can't schedule reminders.
    • Notifications are annoying.

Integration

Bus# will integrate with several services, combining them all into one easy to use application. Ionic Framework will be used to create the user interface. Metlink GTFS allows the app to read scheduled information for services. As well as this the Metlink API allows for RTI (Real Time Information). Google Maps API will integrate the stops and services with an interactive map. Google Transit APIs can link the data from Metlink with Googles Map APIs. Recommended by Metlink here.

Time Breakdown

To develop Bus#, the following list identifies an estimation on the time it will take for two developers to complete this implementation.

• Total estimate - 40 hours
• Getting comfortable - 8-10 each
• Understanding Metlink and google maps API - 8-10 each
• Minimum viable product - 8-10 each
• Pretty UI - 8-10 each

Authors

The following team are the sole developers and designers of Bus#.

Zac Scott	Harrison Cook
300447976	300402048