FSTA

Overview

FSTA is a mobile application that helps drivers find nearby filling stations and understand their current fuel availability before making the trip.

The concept came from a simple observation: during fuel scarcity, knowing where a filling station is isn’t enough. Drivers also need to know whether it is open, whether fuel is available, and whether that information can be trusted. Rather than building another navigation app, FSTA closes that information gap by connecting drivers with filling stations and giving station managers a simple way to communicate their current status.

Who it’s for

FSTA was designed for people who depend on filling stations regularly: private drivers, commercial drivers, ride-hailing drivers and motorcyclists. During scarcity, these users usually already know where nearby stations are. The bigger problem is knowing whether it is worth driving there.

Station managers are the secondary users. They need a straightforward way to say whether their station is open and whether fuel is available, without taking on complicated operational tasks. That made it a two-sided product challenge: drivers need reliable information, and station managers need a practical way to provide it.

The problem

Early conversations showed that drivers relied on WhatsApp groups, social media, word of mouth and personal knowledge to find fuel. The problem with those sources is that they go stale fast. A station reported to have fuel might be empty by the time a driver arrived; another might have fuel but stay undiscovered because nobody had shared an update.

So drivers spent time and fuel moving from one station to the next without knowing whether the next stop would solve anything. The challenge wasn’t finding stations. It was knowing which information to trust before making the journey. For station managers, the opposite problem existed: they had no way to broadcast availability without being asked to run a complex digital system.

Research

The research changed my understanding of the problem. I started FSTA as a way to help users locate filling stations. Interviews with drivers showed that location wasn’t the biggest gap. Most already knew where stations were. What they didn’t know was whether the station was open, whether fuel was available, which fuel type, and whether the information was recent enough to rely on.

That shifted the product direction from station discovery toward station-status visibility.

A survey confirmed the pattern. A large majority of respondents had driven to a station only to find no fuel, and many had spent more than 30 minutes searching during scarcity. Most depended on friends, social media and word of mouth for updates, and an overwhelming majority wanted an app that showed fuel availability. That validated the central opportunity: give drivers useful information before they spend time and fuel getting to a station.

I also looked at Google Maps and Waze. They are good at finding places and navigating to them, but they don’t answer the question the research surfaced: whether a station currently has fuel. That was an opening for FSTA to complement navigation rather than compete with it, by focusing on the missing layer of real-time station status.

Strategy

The product strategy centred on giving drivers what they need to decide before travelling: nearby stations, fuel availability, fuel type, price, station status and notifications. The station-manager side was deliberately kept lightweight, limited to whether the station is open and whether fuel is available. The goal was not the most feature-heavy fuel platform. It was to make the most important information available at the right moment.

Design decisions

Answer the driver’s most important question first

The home screen prioritises nearby stations and their current availability so users understand their options immediately. Search and filters narrow stations by fuel type, availability and price. Rather than forcing users through several screens to learn whether a station is useful, the interface brings critical information to the point of discovery. The whole hierarchy was built around one question: “Is there a station I can actually use right now?”

A lightweight station dashboard makes real-time updates practical

Because FSTA’s value depends on reliable information, station managers are essential to the experience. Asking them to maintain detailed inventories would kill adoption. The dashboard focuses on the few actions that communicate status quickly: station manager updates status, FSTA communicates availability, driver makes a better decision. The simpler the update, the more likely it stays current.

Testing

Usability testing showed where the concept worked and where the interface still created friction. Participants completed key tasks with minimal assistance and found the experience intuitive. Two things needed stronger visibility: filters were hard to discover, and fuel-availability indicators needed more visual emphasis. I moved the filters to a persistent bar, relabelled them, and gave availability status stronger colour and status chips. The lesson: having the right information isn’t enough if users can’t immediately recognise it.

Constraints and trade-offs

The biggest constraint was the reliability of real-time information. A more sophisticated system could track inventory or integrate with station infrastructure, but that would need partnerships and technology not every station has. FSTA prioritises a simple model in which managers provide essential updates without a large operational burden.

That simplicity is a trade-off. If a station stops updating, its information goes stale and trust drops. But a heavier dashboard would make managers less likely to use it at all. The design favours simple, frequent updates over complex, detailed management.

Outcome and reflection

The final experience brings the research together into one path: know the station, know its status, check availability, compare options, decide where to go. Instead of searching several sources and hoping, drivers get a dedicated layer for station status and fuel availability.

The final usability sessions suggested participants could complete key tasks quickly and with minimal help, and they expressed confidence in using FSTA during scarcity. That is not a real-world reduction in fuel-search time. It is early evidence that clearer availability information reduces the friction of deciding where to go. The next stage is validating with real drivers and live station data.

FSTA taught me that users don’t always need more features. Sometimes they need more certainty. The problem looked like fuel scarcity; the research revealed an information gap. Instead of trying to solve fuel supply, I focused on the part a digital product could influence: helping people make better-informed decisions with better information.