Ironhack’s Prework: ClaraTorvà_Challenge1

Citymapper is a mobile web mapping and public transport application that integrates information from all urban transport modes, especially public transport, but also adds options for walking, cycling, and transport sharing. Citymapper started in London, then moved to New York and today includes more than 39 different cities.

But what is the problem the users are facing?

To really understand what the user experience is, we have to talk to the user. That is why we have talked to 8 users between 23 and 27 years old from the city of Barcelona.

Most of the users told us that they normally use Google Maps to move around the city on public transport, an application that, like Citymapper, also offers the fastest routes on different forms of transport, but with much less detail.

In the interview, we asked: why do you use these applications, what do you think could be improved from the application or what do you miss, what problems do you have in the current experience, and we realized that there is a clear segmentation of users.

There are two types of users who use public transport:

Group A: Users who live in the city, those who have an established daily routine and who, over time, become familiar with public transport without the need of applications. This type of user tells us that they usually have monthly tickets by district that allow them to stay a long time without having to buy. For this reason, this is not a main problem for them, but on the other hand they have other types of pains, which we can also try to solve:

1. Having a physical card for a month can mean that it gets lost, broken or stops working, in those cases, the process of re-applying for another one is really a pain.

2. Nowadays, the mobile phone has become our best friend, not having the comfort of being able to use the mobile phone to access transport, is also uncomfortable, you must always think about not forgetting the card.

This kind of users tell us that if they had the possibility to use an application that in an easy and intuitive way would allow them to solve this kind of problems, they would use it without any doubt.

Group B: Those users who visit the city for the first time, to stay for a short stay (tourists), or to stay long but still without any knowledge of the structure or functioning of public transport. These users tell us that one of the most complicated parts about traveling or moving is actually getting to know how the mobility of the new city works and that every time they leave home they are glued to Google Maps or any other application. Some of their most significant pains related to tickets are:

1. Ignorance of the ticket buying machines, there is not a homogeneous system between all the cities, each one uses a system: by zones, by hours, by days. They do not understand which is the most suitable ticket for them, and this generates frustration.

2. Lack of knowledge about which stations have sales machines. They tell us that according to their experience, not all the stations have ticket machines, nor are all the ticket types available. Murphy always appears at the worst moment, with a broken machine.

3. Stress about the payment method: only cash, only card, banknotes, coins, international cards, it is really confused.

4. Discomfort regarding the need to reload the card or tickets. Can this be done in all machines? What process should be followed?

5. Fear of losing the ticket, or not having chosen the correct ticket for the destination.

6. The long queues at the stations for the purchase of tickets

These users need to improve their experience, turn that moment of stress into one of relaxation, with an easy, comfortable and intuitive system.

So, what is the real problem?

Cittymapper has already solved many problems to facilitate the movement of users in the city. The application helps the user to move to a destination in the fastest way. But users still have to deal with the complicated task of buying public transport tickets, but how can they do it in a simple and comfortable way? If the machines are not intuitive, they don not know the city and the payment method is complicated?

How can we solve this problem?

What if we could buy any kind of ticket through the application? What if we had a system or virtual assistant that would recommend us which ticket would best fit our needs? The user already visits the application to design their routes and to see which is easier, we would simply add the ticket purchase process, and we would facilitate the whole experience for our user. They would save the queues, the machines, the stress, they would have it all at a single button, accessible from anywhere.

We have designed a quick prototype to understand how the new functionality would be. The online purchase functionality will allow customers to buy directly once they have chosen which route they want to take, they will be shown all the types of tickets that are available and they will also have access to a virtual assistant that will help them choose the best ticket according to their needs. They will be able to pay quickly and choose the number of tickets. They will also have a new “MyTrips” cathegory where they will be able to access the QR of the ticket and the history of all the tickets used.

So at the end we have to improve the user experience, and the best way to do that is following de Design Thinking method: empathize, define, ideate, prototype and test.