My first challenge for the Ironhack prework is to design a new feature for the Citymapper application.
Citymapper is an urban travel and route planning mobile application created in 2011 by Amat Yusuf, a former Google employee. It is active in many cities, such as Paris, London, Berlin, Tokyo etc.
The application makes it possible to calculate, in real time, the routes of urban transport users, by combining several modes of transport (RER, subway, bus, Vélib ‘, Autolib’, VTC, on foot, etc.). It takes into account both public transport networks, taxi or VTC rentals, such as self-service rental networks, from scooters to bicycles.
— Empathize
The goal is to create a feature for Citymapper that solves the pain of having to purchase different public transport tickets by different channels.
As most public transport users in Paris and its suburbs are used to the Navigo card to travel around easily, I decided to focus mainly on tourists and other users who occasionally travel to Paris or abroad, whether for business or personal reasons.
So I interviewed 5 people, between 25 and 65 years old, all living outside of Paris and its suburbs.
Overview of the interviews :
I brought out several conclusions from these interviews, which I divided into 4 main axes.
Users don’t know much about multimodal travels :
- What came up almost every time in the interviews is the little knowledge about what a multimodal travel is. Most of the time, users avoid mixing different type of transports, like subway followed by bus for example.
- Once the concept is explained, users are often reluctant to the idea, because they lack knowledge of the subway and bus networks in the city where they travel, are afraid of getting lost, of missing their connections…
Users are at lost — they don’t know where to buy or are afraid to do so. They want a new approach, less stressful, less time consuming, more secure :
- The general impression that emerges from the interviews is that people feel both lost and pressured in public transportation, especially when it is a city they do not know. Having to buy several tickets is seen as a source of stress and a waste of time on their trip.
- Users often do not know where to go to buy their tickets or who to ask and are often discouraged by the waiting line or broken machines. The fear of having to pay in cash or taking out their credit card in the subway is also a blocking factor. It was also noted in an interview that fear of ticket malfunction is another pain point.
Expectations, behavior and tolerance are different if users are travelling abroad or in their country :
- Often, users are much more tolerant of public transport and ticketing systems in foreign countries and are much more critical of their home country. They are ready to adapt more when traveling abroad but require impeccable service at home.
- Users are eager for change in their country but the implementation of new methods (QR code for example) would require significant media work. They want a clear communication and need reassurance about new systems being implemented.
Users want a simple solution and to know exactly what they’re paying :
- Users are open to a solution allowing their tickets to be grouped into one, provided that this solution is completely transparent, safe and practical.
- Most of the users already use other apps, such as Google Maps or Apple Map, to find their way around the city, and an other app to see their next train and manage their tickets, and would prefer to have a solution that merges all.
- Users want a choice of transport and a choice of price and want to know exactly what they are paying. It was noted that for many of them, being able to save previous information to purchase the same tickets faster would be a big plus.
- Finally, knowing how much CO2 is generated by their journeys is an argument that comes up as a plus, especially for 25–35 year olds.
Based on all thoses informations, I created a user persona to better understand user expectations, motivations and frustrations.
User Persona :
Empathy map :
An empathy map is a tool used when collecting data about customers to better understand the target customer base. Similar to a user persona, empathy maps visualize customer needs, condense customer data into a brief chart, and help consider what customers want — not what we think they want.
— Summarizing the problem
Users are reluctant to take multimodal trips. Traveling is seen as quite difficult, especially abroad, and buying different tickets for different transport is seen as a source of stress and a waste of energy and time.
Users encounter various difficulties, such as broken machines, lack of staff, malfunctioning tickets. They do not feel safe enough to take out cash or their credit card in public, do not always know where to buy their tickets or what to buy. They are afraid of missing their trains or getting lost.
Most of the users already use an other app to find their way in the city they’re travelling to and want to stop jungling and have one single app, responding to all their needs.
Users are feeling overwhelmed and pressured. They want a solution that would make their every day life and travels abroad more enjoyable, less stressfull.
— How I am solving this problem
I chose to combine the purchase of several tickets into one single ticket, directly on the application. The user will be able to travel using a QR Code, as it is the most common contactless technology, present on every smartphone.
With this solution, the users will be able to buy and manage all their tickets easily and benefit from the map to find their way, all in the same app. The best of both worlds.
The process :
First, the user chooses their trip. Several routes are suggested to them as well as a search filter (shortest route, cheapest route, most ecological route — symbolized with a green leaf).
Once the route has been selected, the user has access to the detailed map, on which platform to wait, where to sit in the wagon, which exit to take etc.
A colorful button to buy tickets is accessible at the bottom of the screen. Once pressed, the user is redirected to the payment page.
On the payment page, a summary of the trip and the purchase are available, as well as a link giving more explanation on multimodal travels.
The user has the possibility to pay in different ways: credit card, Paypal, Apple Pay.
Once the purchase is complete a modall apears to confirm and redirect to the “My Tickets” menu. In here, the user will find a summary of the travel (departure, arrival, date of the travel, date of the purchase, number of tickets in the purchase), a QR Code to validate their ticket at the terminals, the possibility of saving their ticket in Apple Wallet and/or print the receipt so that it can be presented to the controllers in case of a telephone malfunction or battery failure.
Finally, the travel details and history are available in an other tab, with a “Buy Again” button to be able to purchase the same tickets quickly and a heart shaped icon to save the user’s favorite routes.
— Prototypes
— What I learned during this first challenge
The first step is the most difficult one :
I read all the lessons, I practiced, I brainstormed, asked questions around me, but in the end, the hardest part was taking the first step and getting started.
To not feel too overwhelmed, I took a lot of notes, on post-its, on Boostnote and with a clear and precise plan in mind, it was easier to find my bearings and know where I was going.
Several times I found myself having to stop in the middle of another activity to write down the idea that came to my mind! But what a pleasure to have the feeling of solving a puzzle as you make progress!
Listening is key, adapting is essential :
Preparing your questions well is certainly essential, but knowing how to improvise according to the answers, be silent and listen, dig a little deeper into certain experiences and adapt to the person in front of you are, by far, the most important skills that I have had to set up during this challenge. Taking sketchnotes and recording interviews made the rest of the process much easier too.
I had a blast during this first challenge. I was able to step out of my comfort zone, try new things and rediscover the pleasure of learning something new, of restarting something fresh. The entire process, although intimidating at first, was really fun to do. I especially enjoyed writing this article, as writing was something I always wanted to do in my previous career but never really had time to, I was so happy to finally being able to sit down and do it!
So go ahead, put your doubts and fears aside, make mistakes and have fun!
