I’ve felt uncomfortable and even harassed at times. It happens quite often on buses, sadly.
[Empathize]
My thesis began with something I know too well — the experience of commuting as a woman in Karachi. I’ve spent over 5 years using rickshaws, buses, and ride-hailing apps just to get to class. That commute was never simple. It was exhausting, unpredictable, and sometimes unsafe.
I wasn’t alone. Through conversations with dozens of women, I started to uncover the same fears I had:
[User Persona]
I do prefer the rickshaw over a car because it’s open, and I feel like I can jump out easily if something happens.
I usually plan and head to the bus station at least an hour and half in order to find a bus and reach just in time for my classes
These weren’t just inconveniences. They were real safety risks — ones that shaped how women moved, worked, and lived.
Commute is a wicked problem.
[Define]
Commute was a complex, messy problem — trying to solve it for everyone meant solving it for no one. I had to zoom in, focus, and design for one group deeply enough to make a real impact.
[Define]
The insight was clear:
“Waiting” is the most vulnerable point in the entire commute.
Poor lighting, long waits, overcrowded stops, and lack of visibility all combine to create an unsafe, unprotected space — especially after sunset.
According to PIDE and IIPS reports,
40%
not because of the commute itself, but because of the waiting around it.
Waiting didn’t feel neutral. It felt dangerous.
That’s where the problem — and opportunity — truly lived.
[Problem Statement]
[Target Audience]
Women
18 - 35 years old
Student or Working
Karachi, Pakistan
Primary Modes of Transport: People’s Bus Service, Karachi Breeze (Green Line, Orange Line), rickshaws and ride-hailing services
I wanted to fix everything,
Because it felt that personal.
[Ideate]
I explored how design could transform the waiting experience from a vulnerable pause into a secure, visible, and supportive moment.
From fieldwork, I identified both functional and emotional needs:
Because for me, this wasn’t just a design thesis — it was years of living through the problem. I wanted to build everything at once.
My early concepts tried to tackle every layer of it
But the problem wasn’t about features. It was about foundations.
[Test]
User testing made one thing painfully clear:
I was designing for a system that
barely existed.
Over 150 women interacted with my early concepts — kiosks, color-coded maps, ride integrations. But the feedback I got wasn’t about what I had designed. It was about what wasn’t there at all.
[Test]
This wasn’t just about comfort — it was about safety, about presence, about being seen in a system that often forgets its most vulnerable commuters.
That’s when I realized: no kiosk, app, or screen would matter unless the physical space — the very act of waiting — felt safe.
So I went back to square one.
Not to simplify the idea,
but to get closer to the need.
From scattered ideas to a real,
layered system.
[Design]
Once I grounded the problem in reality, I focused on designing what women truly needed:
Once I grounded the problem in reality, I focused on designing what women truly needed:
Not just a screen, but an ecosystem — space, tools, and trust — all working together.
[Design]
The SafeStop stations were designed to make waiting safer, more predictable, and less isolating.
Instead of futuristic features, the design focused on:
