Design Thinking Challenge with Citymapper app
Citymapper is a public transit app and mapping service available for free for Android and Apple devices. The app displays transport options, usually with live timing, for all urban modes of transport — including walking, cycling and driving, in addition to public transport in a supported city. It will tell you how much a ticket will cost for the different public transport options, as well as the cost of ride-sharing services.
The Problem and Challenge
Citymapper can be a real life-saver when it comes to travel — especially if you’re in a new city. Nevertheless, the process of buying different public transport tickets to go from point A to B can often be very annoying (queues, vending machines that don’t work, etc.). The tickets usually come in the form of paper or plastic cards. Finally, finding the right info on things like pricing or purchasing the correct ticket can become a real pain when you are abroad.
The challenge was to create a feature for this app that solves the pain of having to purchase different public transport tickets by different channels. To carry out this task, my goal was to find a solution that was quick and user-friendly and would make the public transportation experience more accessible by simplifying the way of purchasing tickets.
The Design Thinking Process
In order to find the quick and user-friendly solution, I applied the Design Thinking method which ensures that the needs of the users are at the core of the design process. It is an iterative process based on testing early, failing fast, and making changes based on user feedback until you arrive at the desired solution.
➊ Empathize Phase
After getting a better point-of-view on the scope of the project and its problem for the users, I determined the audience who’s gonna help me get the valuable insights on the topic. The audience:
- public transport users,
- urban explorers,
- travelers using public transport abroad,
- familiar with travel apps.
I went on and made five user interviews asking some of the following questions:
- When using different types of public transportation and getting from point A to B, which problems are you usually faced with?
- How is your experience with buying tickets?
- Describe the experience of getting around with public transportation when traveling abroad?
- How do the transportation apps help you? Which ones do you use and how often?
- Is there something that you wish these apps would include?
➋ Define Phase
After reviewing the interviews, I found some of the reoccurring problems that users are faced with:
- Use combination of apps — the ones that help them with route planning and the others which are being used for purchasing the ticket
- Paying for transit can often be stressful, time consuming, also confusing — waiting in lines, machines not working, not knowing which tickets to buy etc.
- Searching for general information (usually googling) on how to get around with public transport to prepare before traveling to a new destination
- Paper and plastic cards can be easily misplaced or lost and are not environment friendly
The main problem that needs to be solved is to allow the users to have an efficient and streamlined experience that starts with getting a ticket and finding the right info easily without confusion.
➌ Ideate Phase
With the main problem and user feedback in mind the time was to brainstorm trough some ideas and get to a possible and user-friendly solution.
Avoiding the usage of many apps or vending machines and creating an integrated experience which allows the users to do everything just from one place very easily — buy tickets, have the right info and see all the mobility options. Free of paper and plastic, all trough one app. With COVID-19 in mind, this kind of a solution is definitely more responsible too, it keeps both drivers and riders safe, limiting contact between them while boarding.
➍ Prototype Phase
The prototype offers a couple of new things, the main feature being an in-app possibility to buy a ticket. The ticket can be used right away or stored in the wallet for later. It also includes a feature that offers general transport info based on the location you’re interested in (for example how to get around Berlin).
One Stop Shop for Transport
Ideally, the solution would be to have the possibility of using just one app and one account to plan and pay for every mode, whatever the operator, whatever the city. It would mean no more downloading and using ten different apps and creating new accounts with payment data every time.
The solution is seamless, integrated and easy-to-use. It also opens up the dialogue between the cities, transit agencies, mobility operators and third-party payment apps. Pushing them all to collaborate and work toward using open data standards. It does not only benefit the end user but also the cities and mobility industry itself.
Conclusion
The first challenge offered a nice introduction to UX design by putting the Design Thinking methods into practice. Making the user interviews was especially interesting and challenging for me, as it was my first time making research this way. Would love to practice it more in the future, as I find it a valuable skill to have in order to get better insight on the users, their honest opinion on how they feel, think and perceive what to be true.
