How losing my gym bag led me to design a feature for the RTA 🤔

How it all began ⌛

• I left my house at 5:45 AM so I could hit the gym next to the office before my day starts 💪
• I’ve to use the metro once and change the bus twice (at etisalat ms and then rashdiya ms) to reach my office. I’ve to do this while carrying my gym bag, laptop bag and tiffin bag 🙂
• Unlike any normal day, I reached the gym only to realize that I had forgotten by gym bag in the bus 🤦
• Panicking, I run back to the bus station only to realize the bus had left 💀
• Still panicking, I call the RTA helpline to report my lost bag..Unfortunately they didn’t pick up as it was early morning 😔
• I took the next bus which went to Rashdiya metro station and reported my lost item 🙂
• I decided go back home to get a new pair of clothes and then come back to the office as I had kept my inital pair of clothes in the gym bag which I lost. 😒
• 2 hours later, I get a call from the RTA saying they found my bag and I was relieved 😀
• Later it got me thinking instead of calling the RTA and making them understand about the item I lost, what if there was a way for me to report the lost item via the RTA app? 🤔
• This article that you’re going to read (skim through, you cute attention deficit person) is a result of the above thought. I’m just going to share what I did after getting the above highlighted thought 🛠️

I found a problem. Is it worth solving? 🤔

• Initial framing of the problem — RTA users faced difficulty in reporting lost items early in the morning due to the unavailability of RTA officials on the app
• Before I even decide to solve the problem, I had more questions to consider
• Is there a need for this feature? Is it just a want? (Show link for want vs need)
• How many people actually use the RTA on a daily basis?
• Out of those who use the RTA on a daily basis, How many of those people lose items on a daily basis?
• What actually happens from the users perspective and RTA’s perspective when the user loses an item? What happens in the BTS?
• Do other B2C transport apps have lost & found feature?
• How does a person report a lost item in public transport in other countries?
• I knew I had to begin with research instead of jumping into figma like a newbie designer

Conducting research to see if the problem is worth solving or not 🙅

• On average, over 1.8 million people used public transport services daily in Dubai.
• The Dubai metro was the most popular mode, serving 167 million riders. Taxis came in at second, with 130 million users. Public buses transported 111 million riders, marine transport ferried 11 million, and Dubai Tram served 5.6 million. Shared transportation means, including e-hail, smart rentals, and bus-on-demand, served about 26 million passengers.
• While I couldn’t find out how many % of those people lose their items on daily basis as it wasn’t available. I decided to conduct a quick Instagram survey among my followers in the UAE. While the sample size was small (154 viewers), it revealed that half of the users (People who use RTA on a daily basis) had lost items on the RTA network.
• To delve deeper, I conducted interviews with several respondents to understand their experiences.
• Based on the interviews, everyone was pleased with the current way of reporting lost items in the RTA and I did not get any hint from the users that they needed a way of reporting the lost and found item in the RTA app.
• Despite not having a need, I decided to trust my intution and design this feature on the assumption that they would benefit from this experience once they actually see or use it. There are 2 quotes I can use in this context to support this case.

Don’t ask people what they want, show them and then get their feedback” — Steve jobs

“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” — Henry Ford

• Let’s see if trusting my intuition by designing a lost & found feature in the RTA app will backfire in this case or not 🙅

How do users currently report a lost item?

• Before we talk about the new feature, We need to understand how do people currently report a lost item in the RTA and what are the possible issues with it?
• This is how the user journey looks like after a user loses his item in the RTA.

1. User contacts the RTA

• Call the RTA Call Center at 8009090.
• Describe the lost item, including type, location, and time of loss.
• Provide any identifying details.
• Receive a reference number.

2. RTA Investigation:

• The RTA searches for the item in relevant records and with staff.
• If found, the item is held for retrieval.

3. Claiming the Item:

• The RTA contacts the user with the location for retrieval.
• The user visits the location with the reference number.

Issues with the current way of reporting an item from the perspective of

1. User who just lost an item in the RTA

• Time-consuming process: Calling the RTA call center and providing detailed information can be time-consuming, especially for users who are already stressed about losing their belongings.
• Language barriers: Users who are not fluent in their language might face difficulties communicating with the RTA representative regarding the lost item ( Remember UAE has people from different nationalities
• Limited availability: The RTA call center might not be available during non-working hours or early morning hours, making it difficult to report lost items immediately.

2) RTA officials

• Data Entry: Manually entering detailed information can be time-consuming and error-prone, leading to potential inefficiencies and inaccuracies in the reporting process.
• Follow-up Calls: Additional calls can strain resources and create a burden on both RTA staff and users.
• Increased Workload: During peak times, the volume of lost item reports can overwhelm the RTA’s capacity to handle them effectively.

How would this feature benefit the users and the business (RTA)?

1) User benefits

• Convenience: Allows users to report lost items directly from their smartphones, eliminating the need for phone calls or visits to customer service centers.
• Faster Response Times: Reduces the time it takes to report a lost item and receive updates on its status.
• Real-Time Tracking: Enables users to track the progress of their lost item report.

2) Business benefits -

• Improved Efficiency: Streamlines the lost item reporting process, reducing the workload on customer service representatives and improving response times.
• Enhanced Customer Satisfaction: Provides a more convenient and efficient way for users to report lost items, increasing overall satisfaction.
• Data Management: Centralizes lost item reports, making it easier to track and analyze data.
• Reputation Boost: Demonstrates a commitment to customer service and innovation.

Brief design process

• For the sake of brevity, I’m going to keep this section short.
• Before designing this, I went through apps in the region like Careem and Uber (when it existed before) to understand how the users could report a lost item within these apps and I also checked out the lost and found features in different parts of the world to understand their patterns and give me a better idea of what I have to keep in mind when designing this feature.
• I took my design journal and just asked myself what all details would the user need to fill when reporting a lost item and what details would the RTA need from the user for verification.
• Then I played around with the RTA app to understand the existing design patterns so I could design this feature which fits in accordingly with their design system and also analyze and then make decisions where this feature would fit in and why.
• One key design decision I made was to include this feature even in the guest version (user does not have to login/create account) as the user would be in a hurry to report the lost item. This decision prioritizes user convenience in a potentially stressful situation, allowing for quick reporting without the barrier of authentication.
• Click or tap this link to watch how the result of my design process -https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7155059123280130048/
• Or you can can understand the flow by looking at the images below!

Testing and results

• I created a prototype and tested using the maze tool with the same users who lost their items in the RTA and the result was good as they could easily report it within the app.
• When I intially spoke about this idea, people were pessimistic or of the idea that this is not really going to make a difference.
• When I posted the above video on Linkedin, these are some of the responses I received.

Comments from my Linkedin post

• Now you know why I showed the above quotes from Steve Jobs and Henry Ford.
• I wasn’t just happy with the good feedback, I wanted this design to become a reality so I went to the RTA station and pitched the idea to the RTA officials who helped me get my item back. They liked it but they said we do not have contact with the executives who are responsible for making the big decisions.

• I did what this kind person said and unfortunately got no reponse from Digital Dubai.
• I met a random RTA officer at a cafe and pitched the idea to him but he could not connect me with the higher officials
• Then I told myself I did my best, these are factors outside of my control.

Lessons learned 🧘

• The joy of working on a personal project — The feeling of working on a personal project is unreal. When I started working on it, I was purely obsessed because I genuinely believed my design could make a difference to the people of Dubai. I didn’t even want to meet my friends over the weekend as I wanted to spend my free time on this project.
• Personal projects is the secret to upskill your design skills — I learn so much and get more opportunities when I simply work on a personal project and share it on social media ( I might write an article regarding this experience soon)

If you’ve made it this far, your attention span is commendable!

Kudos to you for making it this far and thank you sincerely for investing your time in reading this article.

Feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn or Email for any feedback, discussions or if you wanna have some good chicken, I’d be more than happy to have a chat with you!