NYC Lines

Monday morning is off to a great start; you've been to the gym, and you're on schedule to be at work a little early to prepare for the day ahead. You leave your apartment and head underground to catch your train, only to see that there's delays on your line. This is the use case that inspired me to uncover a solution.

Insights

• Delays, service changes, and planned work are unavoidable. The question is, "how can we ease these frustrations that many New Yorkers face every week? And how can we give the public the foresight to plan ahead?"
• The majority of daily commuters already know their route. For the times New Yorkers want an adventure at the weekend, Google have already have them covered. Instead, daily commuters just need a way to know if their service is running as they expect.
• The existing "service status tracker" apps available today tend to bury this vital status information in sub menus and often multiple layers of ads. Surely there's a more elegant way for riders to gain value from this MTA data?

Strategy

• To do one thing well to ensure a simple, fast, and effortless experience for consumers.
• Create a product that has the potential to reach and positively impact every NYC transit rider across the MTA network; from the subway and LIRR, to MetroNorth and Bridges & Tunnels.
• Make the experience personal to every rider; one that integrates with daily life and enables the product to move with technology. Today, how can riders check their line status without opening the app? In future, what does checking a subway line status look like when it's on your wrist?

Solution

• Create an iOS app that provides riders with a seamless way to check the status of their NYC lines.
• Create an accompanying iOS today widget, allowing riders to check the status of their route without opening the app.
• We'll track the success of the product through total downloads via the App Store and the app's daily and weekly active users.

It's my hope that by providing a simple, personal, and elegant way for New Yorkers to experience the MTA network, we'll make millions of commutes that little bit more predictable, and in-turn more enjoyable too.

Built With

• ios