A. IS FARE FAIR? – Emberlyn Nguyen & Ezra Palmore – Professor Gottfried Haider
B. CONCEPTION AND DESIGN:
My partner is from New York, where subways are the main means of public transportation, which resembles Shanghai. However, the fare price in New York on average is 2.9 USD (20.9 RMB) for one rider, which makes the subway unaffordable for people from disadvantaged socio-economic communities.
“Is fare fair?” is a project to raise concerns about the financial inaccessibility of New York subways, a means of transport meant for the public.
Users will engage with the project much like they navigate the subway system. They’ll start by loading the fare onto their card, then tap the card at the processing machine. Sufficient funds will allow them to turn the turnstile and proceed, while insufficient funds will block passage. Attempting to pass without enough funds will trigger a blaring siren and flashing lights.
Following our user testing session, we’ve completed the technical components. However, we’ve identified the need for a better setup. Specifically, we need to select a location that intuitively guides users toward the turnstile and indicates the correct pathway. Additionally, we’re in the final stages of neatly organizing tangled wires and electrical components within a box to enhance the project’s visual appeal.
C. FABRICATION AND PRODUCTION:
- Add fare
We need to create use an interface where users can add fare with Processing.
We want to replicate the user interface design of Fare Kiosk in New York subways.
Users need to answer a set of questions to add fares. Their answers will determine the values loaded on their card.
The text question might come across as too straightforward. We considered offering people the choice of their profile through animations to soften the tone. However, implementing this would require a significant amount of drawing, which exceeds our time budget.
When designing a user interface, our primary goal is to ensure simplicity and intuitiveness. This helps users effortlessly navigate through the interface without confusion. For instance, if there’s only one button on the screen, users naturally know to click on it to proceed to the next step.
Upon completing the questionnaire, we provide guidance to ensure that users know what to do next without requiring explicit instructions from us.
Here is the video of a user filling the questionnaire.
2. Verify the balance of the card
To check whether a person has enough to pass the turnstile, we use RFID reader.
Initially, we planned to transfer the value users accumulated through answering questions directly from processing to the card. Subsequently, the RFID reader would check the card’s value to determine if the user could pass through the turnstile. However, we encountered complexities with writing data on the card. Therefore, we devised an alternative solution: we send a boolean value for “pass” directly to the Arduino from processing. If that value is true, and the card is tapped, the turnstile will unlock.
Each card possesses a unique identification number. As a result, the limitation we’ve acknowledged for this project is that without writing pass/fail directly onto the card itself, we cannot accommodate multiple cards.
3. Passing the turnstile
Since it’s a human-size project, the material we use, especially for the turnstile, needs to be sturdy enough to resist the force of human interactions.
To finalize the model of the turnstile and deal with its fabrication, we need a lot of help from Professor Gottfried. 🙏
About the blocking mechanism of the turnstiles, we have a motor that, when pressed down into the wooden plate holding the three legs of the turnstile, will prevent the plate, thus the turnstile, from rotating.
Something noticeable about the motor is that as long as there is electricity passing through, the motor will move up or down.
To control the rotation speed and direction of the motor, we need a motor driver.
After the motor is up, the turnstile can be rotated. To identify went to block the turnstile again, we use magnetic sensor.
We considered an alternative to incorporating a magnetic sensor by implementing a preset delay for the motor. After a certain period of time, the motor would automatically lower, blocking the turnstile. However, this approach has two drawbacks: people can either surpass or be delayed during that specific period. Specifically, there are instances where more than one person can pass through the turnstile and situations where one person may not have sufficient time to do so.
Users with a sufficient balance, when tapping the card, will trigger the green light and an approving sound.
Otherwise, the light will turn red, accompanied by an error sound.
4. Fare Invasion
In New York, next to subway turnstiles is an emergency gate. People usually use it as a pathway to avoid fares.
If users don’t have insufficient fares and try to invade by using the emergency route. We have a PIR sensor to detect that movement.
Before deciding to use a PIR sensor for the fare invasion sensor, we considered the option of placing a vibration sensor on a wooden plate on the floor. This setup would allow the sensor to detect signals when someone steps on it. However, we encountered issues with this approach. The vibration sensor was not sensitive enough, and the wooden plate was quite flat, resulting in minimal vibration when stepped upon.
When fare invasion is detected, a siren light and sound will activate, along with a video displayed on the screen as follows.
Later, we cannot show the video sound together with the siren. Therefore, we included the siren sound in the video.
To make the video shown in Processing, we need to process it in software called HandBrake beforehand.
Here is the video of a user invading the fare:
5. Laser cutting
In our project, there are 2 components that are laser-cut:
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A box designed to accommodate Arduino and similar components.
- The emergency exit banner
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D.CONCLUSIONS:
I think the project reach the goal of raising awareness about economic inequality in the New York subway system when people of certain demographics are more susceptible to not being able to afford public transportation that should be designed for all.
In China, it is rare for people to evade fares. A Chinese user asked us about the consequences when people don’t pay for the fare. We explained that for our project, there is just a siren sound and light for warning. We don’t intend to express our opinion on whether fare evasion is good or bad. Legally speaking, freeriding on trains is not right; however, if many people find the public transportation cost, which is supposed to be one of the cheapest ways to commute, unaffordable, there could be some systematic error with price determination.
Users interacted largely as we anticipated, given that it’s a simulation of a subway station; thus, it appears quite intuitive for Shanghai residents.
People’s reactions seem to be fascinated when encountering a simulation of a subway turnstile in the Interaction Lab. It’s akin to experiencing a new sense of familiarity, encountering something familiar in a fresh context.
Among a show full of game displays, we could also attract “little” friends
I believe the project aligns with my definition of interaction, which involves reciprocal actions between objects—in this case, people and the subway-stimulated system.
The project is not flawless. With additional time, I would focus on refining our current work. Regarding setup, we could incorporate projectors to display the ambiance of the New York subway. As for the motor, we could explore alternative options for blocking the turnstile, as the current one can only move in one direction.
I believe that through projects, you learn a great deal about collaboration and problem-solving. Many aspects may not unfold as expected, but it’s crucial to adapt with what we have and find solutions together.
E. DISASSEMBLY:
Of course, we don’t forget to disassemble everything and return what we borrowed.
F. APPENDIX
Our Processing code: https://gist.github.com/lpn4931/56afac333cb0c96f03b033187b42fea3
Our Arduino code: https://gist.github.com/lpn4931/4361bd848a0a18bf6e50f0a91df2076a
References:
1.
2. https://github.com/ima-nyush/Interaction-Lab/tree/main/Tutorials/H%20Bridge
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