Ironhack’s Prework: Margaux Biancheri_Challenge1
“Making Cities Usable”. This is the promise made by Citymapper, a London-based company whose core mission is to tackle urban mobility issues. To compete with the giant Google Maps, Moovit or Easy Way, Citymapper has developed an array of features since 2011. The app displays multimodal routing, live updates of traffic perturbation, ETA, ticket pricing, CO2 footprint check, burnt calories counter… And more. So, what’s next?
Remaining pain points
I asked five public transport users* to tell me how I should travel if I wanted to visit their cities and why. What would be my best options to purchase tickets? What obstacles would I probably encounter if I wanted to do differently? I kept the discussion opened and casual, discussing their habits, issues as well as exchanging about their best experiences with urban mobility apps. Here are the main pain points that have emerged:
- When changing the means of transport (ex: from bus to train), you may have to purchase different kinds of tickets or subscriptions.
“Metros, RER, transiliens, tramways, buses are managed by different companies… I live a bit outside of Paris so I need several passes when travelling to the city. It is a pain when my subscriptions run out.” — Adrien
- Ever less sales can be achieved directly from the transport drivers.
“… or if they can, you’ll have to pay in cash which we all have less and less.” — Milena
- Public transports companies fail to provide an efficient online purchase system (see Ilévia’s poor app’s review).
“The metropole of Lille tried to help public transport users to purchase tickets by providing an app: “Ilévia”. I tried to use it once: I cried.” — Christopher
- Paper receipts get lost.
“As a freelancer, I like to get a digital trace of my receipts to add to my expenses. For public transportation, I pay as I go from the machines in the stations. The result? I lost all the time the paper receipts of my transactions.” — Laura
- Not every city has adapted to new technologies.
“I live in between London, Roma and Paris. From one country to an another, we just don’t think the same way. While London is a really usable, tech oriented city, Paris will only change its paper tickets in 2022. Ah those tickets! Sometimes they don’t even work! In order to get compensation you’ll have to go to the office within the station (if there is one and it is during opening hours). Meanwhile, in Roma, not all ticket machines accept debit and credit cards. You still buy your transport tickets in corner shops alongside your Tabacco and newspapers.” — Xixi
- Abroad: it’s difficult to know the tricks to pay cheaper or to choose in which currency you are paying.
“I am a traveller. Even if I speak several languages and I am tech savvy, in some countries, I find the quantity of payment options being a minefield. I’ll add that despite being very pleased by my experience of purchasing train tickets directly via the national Switzerland railway’s app, I had some surprises looking at the conversion fees on my bank account and would have liked to have been able to see the price in my currency at least.” — Tiffany
- It is inefficient to go to the vendor machines to purchase tickets.
“They are not in every stations, often broken or there is too much queue.” — Says pretty much everyone.
*Sample aged 25–35, rather tech friendly, occupying IT, media or art related jobs, living in the cities of London, Den Haag, Roma, Lille and Paris.
The problem
It is a pain to purchase different public transport tickets by different channels.
Whether it is by carelessness for its users or huge maintenance costs: in many cities, the current state of ticket machines is to be deplored. Transportation companies’ ticketing systems are obsolete probably due to a resistance of change and adaptivity in front of the increasing uses and services offered by technology. Furthermore, in most countries, several companies operate for different kinds of transportation. As a consequence, subscriptions and payment options are multiplied making the user’s journey difficult.
The solution
A ticketing and payment integration allowing users to travel through different means of transport seamlessly.
The Prototype
One universal pass with several payment options — Monthly subscription, weekly subscription, pay as you go. The user would follow this flow:
- Homepage
- Search typing page
- Select itinerary
- Confirm
- Start itinerary
- “Tap” Citymapper pass — If not enough, money — Payment options
- Show QR — If controlled
Ambitious but not impossible
Citymapper covers currently 71 cities and 31 countries therefore the project is ambitious. Beyond the implementation of the pass, this would mean negotiating partnerships with major transport companies around the world. Furthermore, users will have to gain advantages in order to engage with the pass such as discounts on other services which means even more discussions with existing and potential new partners. Overall, is this realistic and profitable for the company? Possibly. In 2019, Citymapper has already launched a similar feature for the city of London only. It is at least reinventing my conception, as a user, of public transportation and if one digital pass can bring me anywhere then I am all in.
A few key things I learned throughout this process.
Methodology is key. I appreciated all steps of the process and learnings from it. Interviews are a great source of inspiration. Targeting the right sample is essential as you need relevant interviewees to have a good view of the issue. Drawing your ideas forces you to choose where to focus your attention and what really matters in your design. Everything is more than perfectible.
