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MBTA.com v2.0

The TEAM…

2 Designers

3 Developers

2 Production Specialists

1 Project Manager

My Role…

Technical Lead

… Integration of all systems

… Oversaw all development

… Client/Crisis management

A Day in the Life @ MBTA

1 Million Passenger Trips

300 Customer Service Calls

40,000 Website Visitors

Drivers of Website Update

The Need to Modernize

Customer Dissatisfaction

Support for System-Wide Changes

Public Relations and Branding

Utilization of Resources

Critical Challenges

Diverse User Needs

Corrupt, Outdated Data

Rapid Development Schedule

New System Implementation

So how do you get there from here?

Four Phases

Planning, Research, Analysis

Strategy & Prototyping

Application Development

Testing & Deployment

Initial Findings

90% of website traffic accessed schedules & maps

Inital Findings

70% of users are repeat visitors

User Personas & Needs

Frequent Riders

65% of users

Casual Riders

20% of users

First-Timers/Tourists

10% of users

- Schedules

- Service Alerts

- Personalization

- Mobile Tools

- Route Mapping

- Schedules

- Fare Information

- Service Information

- Route Mapping

- Service Information

- Fare Information

- Schedules

Personas vs. Functions

Frequent Riders(Commuter Rail)

HOMEPAGE Go to Mode-Specific Schedule

60% Go to Specific Line Page

Get Transit Updates

5%

53%

Get Schedule PDF

9%

Get Schedule Change Info

6%

Exit70%

Exit50%

Exit78%

10%

Get Details(Query)

Exit39%

Get Schedule PDF

13%

Exit84%

31%

Getting to Done

Six Month Project

2 Months – Requirements & Planning2 Months – Prototyping2 Months – Build and Deploy

Development Challenges

Platform LimitationsAccessibility StandardsRapid Development PlanInternal PoliticsUnforeseen staffing “challenges”

ArchitectureTransit Server

Web/CMS Server

Database Server

SOAP CSS/XHTML

JS/AJAX

ASP

DLL’s Subversion

Architecture

XHTML/AJAX

PrototypeJS Library

Transit XML Data

ASP/DLL’s

Geocoding

code…CSS/XHTML

code…JS/Prototype

code…JSON

code…VBScript/SOAP/T-Sql

code…Alphabet Soup

Final Product

day after tomorrow…

Reboot > Re-launch

Feature bloatAjax chatterTransit serverDatabase UtilizationTesting

Results

20,000 daily Planned Trip requests

35,000 daily Service Nearby requests

Webby Awards Nomination (gov’t)

SXSW Nomination (css)

MBTA.COM v2.0