Transit Stats App
Personal analytics for public transit
As a daily Chicago CTA rider, I wanted to track my own transit data accurately, but nothing existed to do it. So I built Transit Stats, the first app designed to turn public transit rides into meaningful personal analytics. From concept to App Store launch in four months, I designed the brand, all the UI/UX, and website while writing the backend code as well as the frontend code with the help of AI tools.
- Role
- Founder, Product Designer
- Years
- 2025-2026
- Scope
- Strategy, UI/UX Design, 0 to 1
Challenge
Public transit generates an enormous amount of data, yet almost none of it ever reaches the rider. As a daily CTA rider, I had no way to track my trips, measure my environmental impact, know if my monthly pass was worth it, or understand my habits over time. I wanted to take Chicago’s overlooked transit data and make it personal, useful, and fun.
Impact
1,500+
Users Acquired
100+ Premium Users
Paying for Pro
400+
Daily Active Users
4.7/5 Rating
On the App Store
Data
0K+
Rides Taken
0K+
Miles Traveled
0K+
Hours Recorded
Who I Designed For
I designed for two types of riders. One is drawn from my friends who commute on the CTA daily, and the other is me, always exploring new areas of the city.
User Type 1
The Daily Commuter
Rides the same lines from the same stops on a regular basis
Wants to understand their habits: time, distance, and most-used lines
Wants their daily commute to add up to something visible
Interested in baseline stats, leaderboard, and environmental impact
User Type 2
The City Explorer
Always going new places, riding new routes and visiting new stops
Treats the transit map like a checklist to complete
Wants credit for every new stop and line they reach
Interested in total coverage, achievements, and leaderboards
User Type 1
The Daily Commuter
Rides the same lines from the same stops on a regular basis
Wants to understand their habits: time, distance, and most-used lines
Wants their daily commute to add up to something visible
Interested in baseline stats, leaderboard, and environmental impact
User Type 2
The City Explorer
Always going new places, riding new routes and visiting new stops
Treats the transit map like a checklist to complete
Wants credit for every new stop and line they reach
Interested in total coverage, achievements, and leaderboards
Feature Mapping
I organized my own ideas as well as feedback and thoughts from friends into core feature categories, then detailed the capabilities within each one.
Design Process
The app design evolved from early sketches to two rounds of wireframes before reaching the final polished UI. This progression shows the refinement and thinking that shaped Transit Stats from concept to launch.
Initial Sketches
1st Wireframe
2nd Wireframe
Final Design
Design Iterations
The dashboard went through several iterations during the final design stage. Changes and improvements came from testing, feedback, and judgement on overall look and feel.
So much wasted space
Doesn’t provide quick value
Quick info at a glance, dashboard feel
Unnatural scrolling behavior
Better visual hierarchy
Natural scroll behavior under tab
Version 2
Final
Key Design Decisions Based on Feedback
These are some of the key decisions I made on the tracking and leaderboard pages, based on feedback from the friends I had testing the app, as well as my own testing and everyday use as a daily CTA user.
Track Ride Entry Point
Most prominent element without being too dominant
Emphasis on the live tracking feature to encourage use
Quick Info at a Glance
Current ride streak is immediately presented to the user
Brief overview of weekly transit stats
Notable CTA outages/alerts surfaced in a digestible format
Personalization
User is immediately shown their rank/percentile on the leaderboard
Ability to change metric and time period and still see personal rank
Social Features
One-click share feature in a key moment to encourage organic growth
Key Experiences
Key Experiences
Dashboard
The dashboard covers your streak, weekly stats, CTA outage alerts, environmental impact, and unique CTA facts.
Live Tracking
One tap starts a live ride. Smart GPS detects your line and stops while battery-optimized tracking logs distance and time.
Coverage Map & Ride History
Every trip is logged and filterable by transit type, while a coverage map reveals every stop you’ve visited.
Stats & Achievements
Stats break down distance, time, trips, and CO₂ saved across weekly, monthly, and yearly views. Achievements celebrate every milestone.
Leaderboard
City-wide leaderboards rank riders by trips, distance, and emissions saved, a reason to keep coming back.
Building Out the Brand
I designed the brand and marketing presence, from the logo, palette, and typography to advertising built to drive downloads. The identity carries through the marketing website, which I designed and built to turn visitors into downloads.
Technical Workflow Using AI
This is the technical workflow behind the making of the app. I wrote the backend code as well as the frontend code with the help of AI tools, taking Transit Stats from concept to App Store launch in four months as a solo designer.
Growing the Platform
On the website, articles highlighting CTA trends, news, and insights rank on Google and Bing, driving traffic to the website and then the app. In the app itself, I made key moments shareable, creating a viral loop that brings in new users.
Surprise Appearance on the Chicago News
Transit Stats caught the attention of local media, earning a spot on Fox 32 Chicago. I sat down on-air to talk about the app, the story behind it, and what it means for the city’s transit riders.
User Feedback
Feedback from users sharing their experience after the app launched.
Ridiculous overkill for neurotic transit nerds. I love it.
matthewmagellan
Transit Stats User
Woah this is so sick. I have to say, as a UI designer the app is really well built, easy to use, and super fast! Awesome job on the backend.
Confident-Rabbit-876
Transit Stats User
