Redesigning London bus stops with visually impaired users

Challenge

To empower visually impaired bus passengers to board Transport for London (TFL) buses without sighted assistance, my team worked closely with visually impaired users to co-design a solution. This project was for the Disability Interaction design course in my HCI Master's program, and I was the lead UX researcher.

Research Objectives

  1. Understand the pain points behind the bus stop and bus boarding experience for visually impaired users

  2. Design a solution that empowers visually impaired users to get on their desired bus without sighted assistance

Approach

I led each phase of research, including creating the discussion guide/tasks, moderating, and creating write-ups of findings to guide our design process.

2 in-depth interviews

With a fully visually impaired user & a partially visually impaired ex-bus driver to map bus stop to boarding journey, understand, and gain bus driver POV

1 co-design workshop

Collaborative design with a fully visually impaired user and early user feedback on initial ideas

1 usability test with physical prototype

Evaluate issues with current prototype from perspective of a fully visually impaired user

User-Centered Design Process

  1. Fully visually impaired users cannot identify desired bus when multiple buses arrive at the stop; bus leaves before they can board

  2. Fully and partially impaired users cannot identify which bus is arriving, which impacts their ability to signal desired bus to stop

  3. For bus stops that are only marked by a pole without a physical shelter, fully visually impaired users cannot identify which pole on the street is a stop

Pain points from in-depth interview

After co-ideating solutions with a visually impaired participant, I used role-playing techniques refine concepts. Together, we designed the Kommunicator, a device to signal desired buses, and the NaviStop, a redesigned bus stop for easier navigation. Key co-created features include:

  • Designated boarding area in NaviStop for Kommunicator-called buses, marked by tactile pavement

  • Tactile Kommunicator keypad to call desired bus to stop that user is at

  • Loudspeakers to announce arrival of buses

  • Tactile pavement around pole-only bus stops

Final concept sketch after co-design session

Design changes from usability testing

We built low-fidelity prototypes of the Kommunicator and NaviStop for usability testing with a visually impaired participant, using think-aloud tasks across success and failure scenarios to assess error recovery.

Some particularly impactful findings changes we made were:

  • Replaced Braille with a tactile dot on the “5” key to orient users, since many with vision loss later in life do not know Braille

  • Include audio feedback upon press of each key (i.e., system says “one” after “1” key is pressed)

Photos from testing

Iterated prototypes

Kommunicator mid-fidelity prototype (built in Blender and 3D printed)

NaviStop mid-fidelity prototype (built in Fusion 360 and laser cut)

Product features from co-design workshop

Impact

Our work was showcased at a UCL exhibition attended by several disability organizations, including a visually impaired support group. The overwhelmingly positive feedback from visually impaired attendees validated the solution’s real-world relevance, with many expressing how it directly addressed challenges they face when taking the bus. Visually impaired activists expressed interest in refining the solution further and advocating for its adoption by TFL, helping to increase both its impact and accessibility.

Reflection

Our small sample, limited by course recruitment, reduced generalizability; testing with more visually impaired users would strengthen the design. Since implementation depends on TFL buy-in, research with current TFL employees and bus drivers is also needed to refine the solution for real-world use.

One of my goals in pursuing a Master’s degree was to push myself beyond my comfort zone and keep learning. This project did exactly that by expanding my research skillset to effectively work with visually impaired users. I learned learned new co-design techniques, for example, replacing sketches with non-visual methods like role-playing and tactile prototypes. This helped me gain valuable experience in inclusive research and broadened my ability to design for diverse needs.