Systems Thinking and Human Centred Design: Safety on CTrains

The issue of safety on Calgary’s C-Train network is understood and addressed using the tools of systems thinking and human centred design.

Project Course work for Document Production 2 at Mount Royal University
Role Research and design process in collaboration with Giustina Qualizza; graphic design
Skills Research, system thinking, system mapping, human centred design 
Year 2017

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals set out a “blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future.” All countries are called to work towards the realization of these goals. Our project began with looking at how Calgary can be improved to meet these goals.

We identified an issue with people feeling safe while using local public transit. If people do not feel safe using public transit it can limit their mobility within the city consequently impairing their ability to access services, gain employment, and engage with the community. This can severely disadvantage certain members of our population who do not have access to other transportation options.

Our project centred around the question:
How might we increase customers' experience of safety on Calgary's CTrain system?

Research

This project began with a strong research component.  We combined several research methods to develop a deep understanding of the origin and current state of the problem.

Desk Research
We first conducted desk research to develop a broad understanding of issues related to customer safety on public transit. To ensure that we had a well rounded understanding, we accessed a variety of resources ranging from academic articles to reports from Calgary Transit itself.  

Subject Matter Expert Interviews   
We conducted three subject matter expert interviews to develop our understanding of specific areas related to safety on public transit. First, we interviewed Dr. Michael Adorjan, a professor at the University of Calgary, about fear of crime, its impacts, and how we can affect it through design. Next, we interviewed Dawn Rault, a Mount Royal University professor, about peace officers and their role in the transit system. Finally, we interviewed Brian Whitelaw, Calgary Transit’s Public Safety Coordinator, about current strategies to increase safety and what he would like to see happen in the future.  This allowed us to gain insights from people who are currently working in areas related to this problem. 

Ethnographic Observation  
We visited CTrain stations and rode CTrains in a variety of areas to observe both the environments and the people using the system. This provided us with an understanding of the user’s journey and how people interact with the existing system. 

Quote Collection Activity   
We set up a booth on the Mount Royal University campus and invited passers by to write a comment about their experience of safety on Calgary Transit on a sticky note. These comments gave us insight into how people feel about their experience of safety on Calgary transit.  

This combination of research methods provided us with a well developed understanding of the system that impacts customers’ experiences of safety on Calgary transit. 

System Mapping

Next, we synthesized this understanding into a system map that organizes and integrates our findings. This map shows all of the factors affecting the customer experience of safety on CTrains that we identified. Additional information about the factors is included to provide context leading to a deeper understanding.

Taken together, all of this information can enable a viewer to understand the experience of safety on CTrains even if they have not taken one. It also helps viewers to understand why the problem exists and how we might address it. 

We used this system map to identify leverage points, or areas where a small change could have a large impact within the system. The leverage point that we pursued was the human interaction aspect of the customer’s experience. We selected this for a variety of reasons, including that it impacts both the customer's actual and perceived safety.

Potential Future Solution

Using the understanding cultivated through our research, we designed a potential future solution.

Our research highlighted three key objectives for our solution: The modelling of a high standard of behaviour by both Calgary Transit staff and riders, increased engagement with current safety programs and systems, and creating a transit community where riders have ownership of the system

We considered a multitude of potential solutions and ultimately determined that a multi platform campaign could effectively increase customer's feelings of safety on Calgary Transit.  

There are two main messages that need to be delivered through this campaign: riders have a responsibility to contribute to creating a safe Calgary Transit community and riders need to be educated about what to do in a variety of unsafe or emergency situations.  Overall, it is necessary for riders to be aware that their actions and reactions contribute to everyone’s safety on Calgary Transit. 

This campaign will consist of three main components: a poster series, a web resource, and an in person outreach program.

Poster Series
The poster series will contain simple images and messages that model ideal rider behaviour and prompt riders to evaluate their own behaviour on Calgary Transit. These posters will also provide information about what to do in a variety of situations that may arise while they are riding Calgary Transit. Additionally, it will direct them to a web resource that contains more information about how to be a responsible member of the Calgary Transit community and increase the safety of all customers on the system.

Web Resource
The web resource will provide a detailed overview of the systems that are currently in place to keep customers safe on Calgary Transit. It will highlight how riders should interact with these systems should they require assistance, such as pressing help buttons. Additionally, this web resource will provide suggestions of how riders can behave to create a safe experience for everyone on Calgary Transit. This will include things like maintaining situational awareness by not wearing headphones and using the help buttons if they witness an incident.

Outreach Program
Finally, we will have an in person outreach program in which Calgary Transit employees will be present at CTrain stations to talk with customers. This will help Calgary Transit to build a more personal relationship with riders, model the type of community engagement that they would like to see, and answer customer questions.

Exhibition Presentation

Finally, we presented our research, findings, and potential future solution to the public at the Humanly - Information Design Showcase at Mount Royal University. This involved creating a display that captured our process and findings as well as discussing our project with attendees. 

Thank you to everyone who was involved in helping us create this project. We would like to specifically thank our subject matter experts Dr. Michael Adorjan, Dawn Rault, and Brian Whitelaw for taking the time to meet with us and share their expertise.

During this course, I created a video about our class’ experience of completing this project. You can learn more about that here. 

You can see more of the projects from the Humanly Showcase here.

I completed this project in collaboration with Giustina Qualizza. You can see more of her work here.