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Website Design

Website Design

New riders to transit are most likely to turn to the Internet for travel information. This is particularly true for younger riders, but increasingly true for everyone. Whether you operate fixed-route or demand-response service, your website will be the first experience that most new riders have with your system, and an ongoing resource for existing riders. It also can be a useful tool for gatekeepers (such as human service agencies) who often are charged with planning trips for their clients. Here are some basic guidelines for developing a customer-focused website.


If you don't already have a website for your transit system, National RTAP provides a free website building and hosting platform with customizable transit templates and technical support. Check out National RTAP’s Website Builder here.

Website Design and Content

To be an effective transit marketing tool, a website must take certain design and management principles into account.


  • It must be easy to access, with a web address, or URL, that is short and memorable owing to its relationship to the area or the name of the system. For example, OurTownTransit.org is better than TownofWhateverState.gov/publictransit. 
  • It should focus on answering the questions that current and potential passengers will have, enabling them to understand quickly and easily where the system goes and how to plan a trip to their destination.
  • It should be as simple as possible, so the user can see what the site has to offer from a glance at the home page. People do not read web pages. They scan them, looking for quick answers or links to specific information. With that in mind, your website, particularly the home page, should use a minimum of text and should have a clear navigation structure.
  • Your website should be refreshed and updated regularly to ensure all information is accurate.
  • Your website must work on any size screen–computer, tablet, or phone–as many transit riders view websites on their smartphones. This is called “responsive web design” because the layout of the website “responds” to the width of the screen on which it is being viewed. See an example of responsive web design at SedonaShuttle.com. The display of the web page will vary depending on the width of the screen on which it is displayed.
  • Your website should follow basic web accessibility guidelines for persons with disabilities. The National RTAP Website Builder has guidance for creating accessible websites.
  • If your system will serve those with limited English proficiency, your website will benefit from a translation widget. The Website Builder provides a translation tool with more than 55 languages. 

If Your Website is Part of a Larger Site

If your transit agency is part of a city or county and your website is a page on a larger website, you can still often improve your web presence. 



The best choice is to establish a stand-alone web page with a separate domain name. The types of information transit agencies provide and the regularity with which users access transit information are quite different from other government functions.


If a separate website is not possible, then consider acquiring a short, memorable domain name which can “point” or “redirect” to your page on the jurisdiction website. In this way, passengers can access your page directly without having to navigate the city/county website or remembering a lengthy web address.

Website Content

Your website is the one place you can include complete information about every aspect of your transit service. Unlike a printed guide or sign, your website is not limited by space—but it is limited by the viewer’s attention span. That means the way information is organized on your website is very important. Hence, the top of your home page—the area that is seen immediately when someone comes to your website—is the most important space and should be reserved for critical, customer-focused information.


Ideally, the website home page should include the following elements:


  • Menu/navigation bar providing immediate access to key information:
  • routes/schedules
  • demand-response services
  • fares
  • customer service
  • Trip planner based on Google Transit (for fixed-route services).
  • A map that provides an overview of your service area so viewers can see where transit goes. On a website, it is easy to make a map interactive by including hyperlinks from the route line, demand-response service areas, or legend to schedules or information about specific services.
  • Rider alerts—for weather, holidays, and other important notices.


The Trinity Transit website shown here is an example of this approach. For additional examples, see ElDoradoTransit.com, MendocinoTransit.org, SageStage.com, KernTransit.org or SedonaShuttle.com.

Secondary Pages

Like the home page, secondary pages are best kept short, so no scrolling is necessary.


Key secondary pages (those linked to from the primary navigation bar) should provide the following information:

  • Fixed-route service: Individual route maps, displayed along with the schedules for those routes.
  • Demand-response: Information about service area, hours, and how to make a reservation. Note: A map of the service area is very useful for demand-response services to let potential riders see if their origin and destination are within the service area.
  • ADA-complementary paratransit: Clear information about service area, hours, reservations, and eligibility, including a printable ADA application form.
  • Fare information and information about fare media and where to buy it.

There is likely a great deal of other information that your agency will need to include on the website. Some of this will be rider-focused, other material will be administrative. This less-critical information can be provided via links from lower on the home page. The top of the page should be reserved for the most important information, that which helps riders plan a trip.

Information that might be linked from a footer could include:



  • Rider-focused information:
  • Contact form or information for submitting comments, questions, or complaints
  • Holiday calendar
  • Wheelchair accessibility information
  • Bike rack information
  • Links to websites for other transportation services, such as intercity bus, social services, and taxis
  • Administrative information:
  • Title VI statement and complaint form
  • ADA complaint form
  • Agency policies
  • Transit plans
  • Board members (and their contact information, if appropriate)
  • Board meetings and agenda, and any other transit-related community meetings
  • Employment notices
  • Agency mission statement and history

Accessibility

Your transit website will be accessed by visually-impaired people using screen readers that read the text on a webpage. Even though a JPG graphic of a timetable may be readable by a sighted person, the text cannot be read by a screen reader. Therefore, your schedules should be formatted as HTML tables to ensure accessibility. And it’s important that they be HTML tables, not just HTML text, as tables are logically arranged in rows and columns that can be translated by the screen reader. You may also wish to provide a PDF of timetables for easy printing by sighted people.


Your entire website should be built for accessibility, considering things such as:


  • Use HTML in compliance with current web standards
  • Use alt tags (text descriptors) on all links and images
  • Build timetables as properly structured HTML tables
  • Consider the website structure to allow navigation by a screen reader


The Web Accessibility Initiative provides more information on making websites accessible here.

National RTAP’s Website Builder

Website Builder is a tool that enables rural and tribal transit organizations to build and manage a website - free of charge. The transit-focused templates, simple design options, and drag-and-drop features make it easy to use. Instructional videos and technical support are available to help you through the process.


Check out some rural transit websites built with National RTAP’s Website Builder:



Learn more and get started building your website now.

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