How to Use RideMVTA Demo Phones

Purpose

This article describes how to use the RideMVTA demo phones in a training with the public. The goal is to provide a fairly concise list of the essential considerations to make running a training with RideMVTA demo phones successful.

Scope

We're specifically focused on using RideMVTA demo phones in a public training. While elements of this article may apply in other scenarios, this is not a complete list of all possible uses of the RideMVTA staging app and does not contain all considerations for these other scenarios.

This article does not attempt to describe a detailed itinerary of

Responsibilities

External Affairs staff - Run RideMVTA demo phones as part of trainings, including the preparatory steps and the training itself. Reach out to IT when assistance is needed, to share feedback, and to advise on process improvements.

IT Service Desk staff - Provide support and initial phone setup for RideMVTA demo phones. As requested by External Affairs, occasionally attend RideMVTA demo phone trainings with the public to assist and advise on process improvements.

IT System Administrator assigned to RideMVTA - Provide support for the RideMVTA app, second-tier support for RideMVTA demo phone issues, and lead process improvements. As requested by External Affairs, occasionally attend RideMVTA demo phone trainings with the public to assist and advise on process improvements.

Background

Often, riders may be unsure how to use the RideMVTA app, uncomfortable trying new things with technology, or otherwise reluctant to use MVTA services like Connect which require using the app. Providing a safe space for riders to learn, experiment, and directly interact with the app -- while an expert is right there to assist -- can be invaluable to building their confidence utilizing in our mobile app and MVTA services as a whole.

To achieve this, we have a handful of spare iPhones set up with the RideMVTA staging app. We're calling these the "RideMVTA demo phones", and their whole purpose is for the public to try out the RideMVTA app during trainings, without affecting real-life operations. This is possible because the RideMVTA staging app:

Does not deal in real-life money, so no real credit cards need to be charged to make purchases
Does not deal in real-life rides, because it's linked to the Spare staging environment where a virtual driver "picks you up" and "drops you off"
Is otherwise a very similar user experience to the real production RideMVTA app

Preparation

The day before the training

For a successful training, there are a few quick steps to take the day before the training. These include:

Get the phones: Locate the RideMVTA demo phones (2 phones, as of this writing) before the training.
Charge the phones: Make sure the demo phones are fully charged. As well-used iPhones, they have weak batteries, so always charge them before a training for at least a few hours so you start with a full charge.
Verify that you can unlock the phones: Make sure you can get into the RideMVTA demo phones. Their passcode should be "000000"
Verify that you can launch the RideMVTA staging app: Open the RideMVTA staging app and make sure it doesn't immediately give you an error. In the past, some releases of the staging app expire after a certain number of days, and if that's happened, we'll need to work with Kuba to restore access.
Plan for connectivity: Verify that someone from MVTA will have their phone available to use as a mobile hotspot during the training. The demo phones have no cell service, and Wi-Fi is required to do much in the RideMVTA app -- so having someone use a hotspot is essential.
Verify that you can sign into the RideMVTA demo account (for use within the staging app):
1. Username: ridemvtademo@mvta.com
2. Password: MVTAdemo1!
Check your Spare account: You'll need to be able to add virtual drivers in Spare right before the training, so verify in advance that you can get into Spare.

Just before the training

Steps to take just before beginning the training (or at least, the portion of the training where riders will use the demo phones) include:

Get the RideMVTA demo phones onto your hotspot: The RideMVTA demo phones no not have cell service, so they must be connected to Wi-Fi (like your company iPhone's hotspot) to use the full functionality of the RideMVTA staging app. Without a network connection, you can't book rides in RideMVTA, make purchases, etc., so it is essential to have a hotspot set up and have the phones connected to the hotspot.
1. The exact steps vary from phone to phone, but here are the principles:
  1. Turn on your phone's mobile hotspot feature, noting the Wi-Fi network name and password
    1. On an iPhone, this is in Settings > Personal Hotspot
    2. Check "Allow others to join"
    3. Note the Wi-Fi Password field. You'll need to enter this on RideMVTA demo phones, so enter a password here that's typable by humans (default tends to be random characters)
    4. With "Allow others to join" checked, you'll see the name of your phone's Wi-Fi network in the text partway down the page.
  2. On each RideMVTA demo phone, connect to the Wi-Fi network being broadcast by your phone's mobile hotspot feature. In Settings > Wi-Fi, select the name of your hotspot network and enter its password.
  3. Verify that you can connect to the internet on the RideMVTA demo phones (ex: open Chrome or Safari and go to www.mvta.com)
Start the Spare demo: RideMVTA demo phones book rides in the Spare staging demo. In order for Connect options to appear in the app, you must first start the Spare demo as described below just before the training. Spare's demo only stays active for a couple of hours at a time because the virtual drivers end their shifts. If you don't start the demo before the training, RideMVTA staging won't offer Connect options when planning a trip because there are no "drivers" available in Spare.
1. Log into Spare here: https://platform.sparelabs.com/
2. If prompted during sign-in, choose the "MVTA (Testing)" organization as shown in the first picture below. If you are not prompted this way, click your initials/icon on the left side of Spare, then Change Organization, then select MVTA (Testing).
  
  You'll know this worked because it will show "MVTA (Testing)" in the top left area of Spare:
3. In Spare, go to Live Map on the left, then Demo in the top right.
4. Click Add Duty several times (at least 5-10 times) to add virtual drivers into the demo. You can hit it very fast; it will catch up.
5. You'll know it worked because you'll see "Duty created" notifications, cars added on the map, and the RideMVTA staging app will now offer Connect trips when trip planning.

Usage during training

There are a few things to keep in mind when conducting a training using the RideMVTA staging app:

RideMVTA staging app's credit card purchasing screens are different: If you purchase any tickets in the RideMVTA staging app, the checkout screens will be identical until you get to the page where you select a credit card to pay with. This page is prefilled with test credit cards that don't actually get charged any real-life money. It's safe to use these to make purchases in the app, just know that this screen is different than riders will get in the real RideMVTA app.
RideMVTA staging app's events may be different: The RideMVTA staging app may show different events than the normal RideMVTA app, such as test events or even no events at all. We only put the effort into keeping event ticketing up-to-date in the normal RideMVTA app. If your training includes any mention of event ticket purchasing, it may be worth mentioning that this demo is only showing some test events, and the normal RideMVTA app will have the actual/accurate event tickets in the same place.
RideMVTA staging app's user accounts are distinct: User accounts are completely separate from the normal RideMVTA app, so you may not have an account in RideMVTA staging if you haven't set one up in staging. Your RideMVTA staging account may have a different password than your normal RideMVTA account.
RideMVTA staging app's bookings are only with virtual drivers: It is completely safe to make Connect bookings in RideMVTA staging (without affecting real-world operations) because the drivers in RideMVTA staging are all virtual drivers. You'll get "picked up" by the "driver", be "on board" for a bit, and get "dropped off" -- all without any real-life driver being involved.
RideMVTA staging's Spare zones may be different: The Spare demo that RideMVTA staging uses may not have an identical set of zones. If possible, have a specific trip in mind for riders to try during the demo, and verify that it is bookable by testing it ahead of time.

Summary/Quick reference

Day before:
- Get the phones
- Charge the phones
- Verify you can unlock the phones
- Verify you can launch RideMVTA staging
- Plan for connectivity (hotspot)
- Verify you can sign into RideMVTA staging
- Check your Spare account
Just before:
- Set up connectivity (join each phone to hotspot's Wi-Fi)
- Add drivers in Spare's demo
Credentials
- Demo phone passcode: 000000
- RideMVTA stating account to use with demos:
  - Username: ridemvtademo@mvta.com
  - Password: MVTAdemo1!