On the move: designing for the commuter experience
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As demand for public transport services continue to grow throughout Australia, researchers in the Department of Design at Monash Art & Design are looking at new ways to improve the commuter experience. “Members of the design department are currently working on a number of research projects which address some of the issues associated with public transport design,” said Associate Professor Arthur de Bono, Head of the Department of Design. “These projects range from how to improve safety during train journeys, to improving service punctuality. They differ from much of the other public transport research being conducted by academic institutions by focusing on industrial design and how it can solve some of the problems encountered by commuters using public transport services,” he said. Tackling the cause of train delays has prompted Monash academic Selby Coxon to investigate the variables influencing station dwell times, and how these might be addressed by modifications to train carriage design. Dwell time refers to the amount of time a train remains stationary as passengers board and alight the train. As public transport services become a more popular way to travel, overcrowding and passenger discomfort become major contributors to lengthening dwell times, particularly during peak hours. According to Selby’s research, dwell time may be impacted by a variety of factors, including passenger characteristics and crowding effects. However, it is variables such as the layout of seating within carriages, the spatial distribution of platforms, and the size of doorways in relation to passenger numbers that could provide the solution to timetable delays, and improve the commuter experience. Commuter confidence is also the key to research being conducted by Masters student Jessica Diec. Her project is geared at understanding antisocial behaviour, and how it might be reduced through design. As a regular train user, Jessica says her research was somewhat prompted by her own experiences while travelling on trains.
“There have been occasions where I have witnessed behaviours that made me uncomfortable, and I would like to be able to change that by making travellers feel safer.” Jessica is currently investigating the causes of low-risk antisocial activities, such as graffiti, damage to property and littering, which are less threatening, but are also more common. Working closely with transport operator Connex, she has access to statistics relating to the incidence of such behaviours, and, as part of her project, aims to develop a design response for reducing the frequency of such activities. “I’m also investigating some of the issues surrounding off-peak travel. Night-time travel at present has quite a negative perception amongst train travellers, and I’d like to look at whether some design strategies could be implemented to improve commuter confidence during those off peak periods.” Jessica relates her interest in public transport design directly to her undergraduate experience at Monash. During the final year of her Bachelor of Industrial Design degree she undertook a project investigating safety on public transport, which prompted her to continue her research at a postgraduate level. “Although I had tackled the issue to an extent during my undergraduate degree, I felt there was still a lot more to learn about the topic. So when the opportunity to undertake a Masters came up, I thought it would be a fantastic opportunity to build on what I had already learned,” she said. According to Associate Professor de Bono, Monash’s strengths in public transport design are two-fold. “Monash Art & Design runs a very strong studio-based industrial design program, underpinned by solid research ethic. This results in tangible, working designs, which are strengthened by rigorous research methodologies. “Secondly, Monash Art & Design works hard at forging partnerships with key players in industry, government and other areas of the University, which means that the research we conduct in public transport design results in outcomes that a relevant to the broader community,” he said.
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