Sociology and Anthropology 4(2): 59-66, 2016 http://www.hrpub.org DOI: 10.13189/sa.2016.040203 Have You Seen This Bus? Information Design Problems in Public Spaces in Istanbul and an Intervention on Public Transportation in Dikilitaş Neighborhood Melike Özmen Visual Communication Design Program, Department of Communication Design and Management, Faculty of Communication, Istanbul Bilgi University, Turkey Copyright©2016 by authors, all rights reserved. Authors agree that this article remains permanently open access under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 International License Abstract This project indicates the importance of accurate information to be transmitted to the public and the problems related to lack of information about public bus transportation in Dikilitaş neighbourhood, Istanbul via transmedia storytelling. IETT provides public transportation services in Istanbul. It uses several communication channels such as institution’s website, smart phone application, information screens on the bus stations, and information screens inside the buses to convey the essential information about public transportation to the passengers. However, none of these tools are working properly and they fail to give accurate information to passengers. Dikilitaş is located on a high hill in Beşiktaş and it is hard for residents - especially for the people with varying types of physical disabilities, elders, children and people with heavy belongings - to reach their desired destination in the area by walking. The purpose of this project is to evaluate the residents’ attention to these problems and to enforce IETT to propose solutions to them. In this process, firstly, the erroneous information provided by IETT is gathered and IETT is informed about that information via e-mail and their call-centre. Secondly, opinions of the residents about these problems are monitored via participant observation and interviews. All of these conversations, observations and interview records are gathered on a blog (http://buotobusugordunuzmu.tumblr.co m). This information is transferred into a pop-up book with my personal storyline. A leaflet is designed and hanged on the bus stations around the neighbourhood to attract the attention of the residents to the blog. Furthermore, a promotional video of the book is recorded and published on the blog. In conclusion, the residents started to get in touch with IETT via e-mails and call-centre to complain about the problems in public transportation services in Dikilitaş. IETT declared that they accepted the problem and promised to provide a solution later in 2015. Keywords Information Design, Public Transportation, Public Space, Transmedia, Storytelling 1. Introduction Transportation is a substantive right by law. It is Metropolitan Municipality’s duty to organize, apply and coordinate the public transportation schedule and circulation in urban area [1]. The main public transportation system of a city consists of several transportation networks. Istanbul is a megalopolis with a population of approximately 14,5 million people and approximately 3,5 million average passengers per day use public transportation [2]. In Istanbul Public transportation system consists of three kinds of sub systems, which are road transportation, rail transportation and sea transportation. Road transportation holds 85% share, rail transportation holds 13% share and sea transportation holds 2% share in total [3]. Table 1. Road Transportation Shares in Istanbul % in Total IETT 10 ÖHO 15 OAŞ Metrobus Minibus Taxi Shared Taxi Service Vehicles 8 8 22 11 1 25 Table 1 indicates the road transportation options and their shares in total road transportation Istanbul. IETT (Istanbul Electricity, Tramway and Tunnel General Management) ÖHO (Private Public Buses Incorporated Company), and OAŞ (Bus Incorporated Company) are subject to same travel fares, which are indicated in table 4 and 5. ÖHO and OAŞ are incorporated companies that depend on IETT’s regulations. IETT, ÖHO and OAŞ work under Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, which is a provincial authority. The buses that