Jan
GO Transit Website Redesign
GO Transit, Ontario’s only inter-regional transit system, launched the redesign of their website. Their previous design, shown in the thumbnail above, had more or less been the same since September 2007, and even then it was just a step behind.
My first impression of the redesign was quite positive. I was happy to see that the site was visually much more pleasing and that someone had taken the time to give it a fresh look. It makes excellent use of the space that is offered by modern resolution sizes and very great use of white space. A grid was now set up, where there wasn’t one before, and they ditched the table-based coding for the box model. Big plus.
The home page is much more organized now. There is a definite sense of hierarchy has been established and certain elements are given prominence. A carousel has been created using jQuery to cycle information that GO wants its users to see and buttons have been created for the three things riders care most about: service status, fares, and schedules. Below this, is secondary information that the user may or may nor care about.
The global navigation utilizes an unordered list, but I wish each link had a specified height and width so that functionality would be better. The secondary navigation pulls out in a drop down on hover then proceeds to animate to the next item as your mouse moves from one link to another. Now I’m not a huge fan of drop-down sub navigation to begin with, but if done correctly I don’t mind it. The animation on this one annoyed me quite a bit and I found it to be very unnecessary.
A large number of the static content pages make use of an accordion effect to relay the information. I like that this helps to break down the information-heavy content, making it more inviting. It would have been nicer to have the functionality to close each accordion by clicking the title again, rather than having to scroll my way to the next section (kind of defeats the point doesn’t it?)
One aspect that I am greatly disappointed in is the schedule system that is available to the riders. This is the same organization that had been available on the previous version of the site. Ever since I began my classes at Sheridan, I became an infrequent GO rider. Being infrequent meant I was constantly checking the schedules to make sure of the arrival times of my bus. I remember the very first time I came across this system, I was so puzzled by it. It took quite some time to navigate and figure out how to find the schedule for the right bus.
The first option is to choose from a list of GO schedules. This displays a list of schedules, but these schedules are not by bus route number, as most transit systems will do. This, on the other hand, displays a list of schedules that they have come up with based on destination (Buses often pass through same locations, but have different routes). Clicking on a schedule will bring you to another list, asking you to choose the day that you are riding and the direction you are traveling. This will then pull up a schedule (with several bus routes all in one). Also, for some reason, this schedule breaks the layout (it did this in the previous version as well).
The second option available is to choose from the weekday quick tables. There are four locations that are most frequented by the GO buses: Square One, Union Station, York University, and Pearson International Airport. Clicking one of these will bring you to a page where you can view PDF versions of the quick tables (which are business-card sized tables with arrival/departure times).
The last option, the one I use most, is the schedule finder. This had taken me ages to figure out on my own, which was not a pleasant experience. If you’ve never used it, try it out and tell me what your experience was. I’d be very interested to hear about it! There are several drop down options that you have to select through (these fields change depending on previous answers, so I realized you have to answer them in order for the finder to operate at its best). After finally figuring out how to answer all the fields, you get the aforementioned schedule from the first option.
I really wish they would have taken the time to rethink the information architecture of their schedules. Not only are they difficult to understand for a first-time rider, it creates a frustration that they do not need. (GO has a reputation for having too many delays and late bus/trains)
That’s my take on the redesign, your thoughts?
User Comments
Wow I somehow missed that, but now I see it so clearly. Some of the top nav items are flush left, some flush right and some centered. So strange!
It’s a step in the right direction but I still feel that there are some glaring amateurish issues.
I agree – I hate the drop-down. It’s slow and unresponsive and having that gap where the first list item should be (where the arrow is right now) is just distracting. Not to mention that it flies in on the initial page load and it’s slow moving between menu items horizontally.
My first impression of the site was “OMG too much marketing filler and too many columns.” The five columns are too much and no one’s going to read them. At least include an action button at the bottom of each to direct the reader’s attention.
Going back to the main menu. Two things that bug the hell out of me.
#1: The link text is only the link. They should make the whole thing a button. It’s not hard at all and it will improve their Fitt’s Law score.
Okay, maybe I’m getting a bit technical on a design aspect.
#2: Why is the text not centered? I didn’t notice it for all buttons till now because items like Union Station jumped out to me first, but they’re all not in the center of the button nor are they even centered at all! Some are pseudo-right aligned (Union Station) and others are left aligned (Travelling with Us). What the hell?
Then again, everyone’s a critic.