The ticket becomes Green and Digital, now…You can forget about it!
Ironhack UX/UI Bootcamp Prework Challenge 1: Citymapper
“If it makes your life easier and its impact is close to 0! Consider that it may be a good idea.”
“I felt as a Designer I was doing something good, for the planet and so for all of us”
…said a conscious designer from the near future…
Unfortunately, we aren’t there yet, but the good news is that we are a more and more conscious community of designers and we keep moving toward sustainability and digitalization. We are making it possible to imagine we are almost ready to completely free ourselves from the hassle of paper tickets in the realm of public transport.
Citymapper
Citymapper is a mapping service and public transit app that helps you navigate the city with ease. It was born in 2011 in London city, one of the most iconic in the world, particularly in terms of public transport.
Its founder Azmat Yusuf and came up with the idea to build an application that would make life easier when moving around town; knowing exactly how long a trip will take, how bad the traffic is, which transport is closest to you, and how much the services you have chosen will cost. Almost everything you need to go out and forget live in a city packed with millions of people! Everyone knows about London Metropolitan maps, the famous red double-decker busses, the traffic, how difficult is to move around, to arrive in time, and manage your portfolio of paper Metro tickets
“Almost got it all, but one issue keeps knocking… the ticket purchase!”
The Challenge
The challenge here is to create a feature for this app that solves the pain of having to purchase different public transport tickets by different channels when going from point A to point B.
“Consider: Users already have all their information on the app, they will neither need to log in nor enter any data when paying/checking out and for the moment set aside issues related to security and other limitations.”
1. Empathize
Let’s connect!
“Dear user, I know how frustrating can be the journey to reach your destination, and that the right feature would help to make your day a little more relaxing. I created a questionnaire that would help me find out important insights that will help me find the right solution to this issue.”
I decided to interview some neighbours and a few of my friends who live in big cities of the world, some of whom used to travel frequently. Their ages are between 20 and 50, and they use applications for almost everything. They all have an active lifestyle.
Below you can read the questions they were asked to answer:
- How do you get to move around the city and/or when travelling abroad?
- How and when do you purchase your tickets?
- Which are the main issues you are faced with when moving around a new city or/and while travelling?
- Which issues do you encounter when buying tickets?
- What about a long trip with multiple means of transport when few tickets are needed?
- What makes your trip unbearable?
- What feature would make your transportation experience easier?
2. Define
I found out what the users think
I collected 10–12 of the best answers to my questionnaire, and surprisingly most of them were already a great roadmap to the solution. I drew a collection of insights and maps to address the problems we are faced with.
Main findings and Issues
- Tickets purchase and multiple-tickets management are painful.
- Security issues when buying in/out of the station; concerns of women and travellers especially when moving at night and/or in dangerous neighbourhoods.
- Orientation: where to buy the right tickets and valid “ticket time” spent on understanding the stations’ floors, platforms, and how to reach these without getting lost inside big stations (Tokyo, New York, Sao Paulo, etc.)
- Understanding a travel network in a different language. Understand what kind of ticket is appropriate for the journey if they differ from the ones people are used to.
- The traditional purchase system is time-consuming, especially if you have to buy a new ticket at the connection. Risky to remember to buy the additional ticket at the connection when under time pressure, a fine can be waiting for you behind the sliding doors at the next stop.
- The use of multiple applications to navigate the streets and purchase tickets is time-consuming and confusing.
The problem statement
“Traditional purchase systems for public transport are time-consuming, risky or confusing. Can be challenging for anybody, especially for those who travel and those who wish to move worry-free, to feel safe, beeing able to manage all their tickets and stay aware of the timing.”
3. Ideate
Brainstorm!
3 Best feature ideas:
a. Safe trip
Gain all information about the stations listed in your personalized journey, connect with the users who have the Safe trip feature active! Visualize or ask for info about the station or the platform where are you heading. If the situation is dangerous, you forgot to get out, or for any reason, the change of direction isn’t easy to manage, you can click on a ticket credit to purchase a new solution. Pay later on with your Safe trip feature on Citymapper!
b. Ticket finder
Have travel ticket options presented in one 3D virtual map of the station. Visualize where shops and working machines are.
c. All in one Digital green ticket
The travel options are presented all in one place and are easy to purchase together. Manage
4. Prototype
All in one Digital green ticket
“The digital ticket is our way out from the land of paper waste and many other uncertainties.”
Conclusions:
The experience of working on the Citymapper project has given me a broad range of tools to use in a challenging problem-solving situation. One step at a time is the best way to develop an understanding of my own decision-making process.
