Qualitative Data Analysis
Gender
Male: 12
Female: 6
1) How often do you use the train/bus/ferry? Which lines?
All interviewee caught the train except for one who caught the bus to work.
Majority of commuters caught the train to work. The lines used included North
Shore, Illawarra, Northern Line and Easter line. The tourists interviewed had
all caught the city circle train and had also used the monorail. No tourists had
used the bus yet.
2) How easy or difficult do you find it to navigate around the area to find
the right train/bus/ferry?
The responses from daily commuters showed that they had no trouble
navigating in all three areas partly because they were familiar with the area
from past experience and/or knowledge.
However three tourists found Sydney buses impossible to understand, starting
from where and what kind of bus ticket to buy.
One irregular commuter aged between 20- 30 commented that he gets lost at
Town Hall station all the time, because there are too many exits and another
commented that Town Hall would be an easy area for international students to
get lost because of small signage.
3) Which information helps you to find your way around the locations?
Digital screens, maps, asking in person and signage were more used by
tourists and new commuters. The daily commuters suggested that Signage
and digital screens would be helpful but not necessarily used all the time for
navigation since they travel to the same place everyday. The overall
consensus was that commuters were satisfied with the signage with the
exception of two interviewees proposing that the signage should be better
colour coded, bigger and or should be animated and moving.
4) How useful would you rate existing signs around the locations?
Overall signage had a scale of 2 but suggested that there was room for
improvement.
5) How useful would you rate existing screens around the locations?
The scale of the screens was better than the signage however participants did
mention that a count- down system until the second you can board on the
train would be handy. One complaint was made where they disliked the
misleading information of how the minutes due until arrival of train changes
with its delayed time.
6) Do you feel you are in control when using public transport? If not,
where would you like to have more control? What could be improved to
provide more control?
All participants except for four felt that they had no control when there were
delays, especially on the bus. Although majority were train commuters, all
seemed to be familiar with bus delays and not being informed enough when
waiting for buses. One particular response was that there should be improved
sheltering for rainy weathers.
7) Are you using your mobile phone to retrieve information about public
transport? If yes, what for? In not, what information would you like to
have accessible on your mobile?
A greater number of interviewees were not receiving information from their
mobile phone, reason being that there was no access to the Internet.
However the general impression was that it would be useful to own such
technology to gain access to information about timetables and up- to – date
delays. The participants who were already utilising the service appeared to be
happy with the service, especially with 131500.