Overview of main challenge and the process

Anyone who has ever traveled to a foreign city or even another city in their country can tell you that buying public transport tickets can be very confusing and painful.

There are more often than not too many options, applications, and systems that are complicated, and the last thing you want to do is lose time and stress out over a task that should be simple and straightforward. Properly designed public transport applications can help both visitors and local residents or even encourage them to use public transport more.

Tools: Figma, Usabilityhub

Duration: 2 weeks (July 2022)

Research and survey

The current app has a few pain points and things that could be improved. I have identified these from my own experience and daily use of the app.

1. speed of buying ticket, complicated options

2. lack of features (sms ticket, lines in the map), ticket activation time

3. map usage, parking feature is not visible

4. minor design flows (buttons, spacing, accessibility- registration)

The survey has been conducted on 25 people and used 2 main open questions. To get general ideas about people's needs and expectations from similar applications. These 2 questions were aimed at both groups who can potentially use the app. The locals and the visitors.

1. Half of the people who use their local transport apps emphasized the need for precise maps, routes and timetables. Another requested feature has been info about potential disruptions.

2. The second question was aimed at traveling to a different city or state. Here, the navigation and map features were the most requested/used again. Together with the simplicity of the UI. Also, 40% of people mentioned the sights and attractions as something they would like to see directly on the map.

   These findings correlate with the pain points of the current app.

   The extra question was "Would a discounted ticket make you download and purchase via the local app instead of buying at a machine/sale point?" 84% responded yes, this could potentially be a big encouragement for Prague visitors to use the app since the price of the single tickets has recently gone up.

Key insights:

Define

Pain points

While the survey was focused on general research about transport apps, the current app has a few pain points. These were identified in some of the Google app store reviews directly from the users and also from my daily use.

1. Speed of buying tickets, complicated options

2. Lack of features (SMS ticket, lines in the map), ticket activation time

3. Map usage, integrate parking

4. Notifications about disruptions

Personas

Based on the survey and also my own experiences I set up 2 personas. The design process has followed the needs of these main types of users.

User journey

I mapped out the users’ steps to see how I could simplify their journey to help them reach their most important goals with the product. Here are the steps that our personas take on their journey using the transport app.

Ideate

Sketches and Wireframes

I usually start the design process with low-fidelity wireframes. This is the way I iterate through many design options quickly.

These sketches were based on initial ideas and the outcomes of the survey.

I sketched the basic user flows before moving on to the low-fidelity wireframes. I created several different versions.

Prototype

Experience #1 - Buying a ticket

This flow had some major issues in the old version of the app. I simplified the buying process with a quick buy button for the most popular ticket, and also added distinction between Prague and regional tickets which added more organization to the flow.

Experience #2 - Buying a Pass

This flow had too many steps on many screens which was not necessary. All the options fit into one screen. Also added clear visual distinction for the pass.

Experience #3 - Map and Navigation

Most requested feature. Made the parking option/version more visible. Added possible version for tourists. Also with the search flow, now the map is displayed right away instead of a separate screen.

Take aways

Since this was my very first case study I have learned that every step in the UX process is extremely important. Especially the initial user interviews or surveys can show you things that you simply cannot see for yourself in the very beginning.

Now I also see the importance of iteration. Especially in the wireframing stage, I did end up changing things that I initially thought would be good.

This case study can still be improved in many ways, there are some flows that have not been explored and there is still space to add more features and design improvements including the full prototype.