Citymapper One: Combined Ticketing

This project was completed as pre-coursework for the UX/UI program at Ironhack Barcelona. As this is a first look at the UX process, some simplifications and assumptions have been made. In this project I will use Citymapper as a case study and look how to improve the experience of purchasing tickets for public transportation.

The Company

Citymapper is a transportation app that often appears in the top-10 best transportation apps and is commended for bringing together different types of transportation such as shared city bikes to provide a solution that fits in to the lives of how people really get around their cities. The company has already begun to roll out solutions such as the Citymapper Pass for cities like London where users can use a provided contactless card to access city transport, shared bikes and even taxis. This pass is not available in all cities and does not include solutions for inter-city travel.

“The award-winning transport app, built for the real world of commuters and their daily needs. Live in 50+ cities worldwide.” — Citymapper Website

The Users

Speaking to users I learned that some of them were familiar with Citymapper but many more used Google Maps or Apple Maps for their day-to-day navigation needs. We spoke about their experiences with buying tickets for transportation, how they like to get around their own city and new places. The users I interviewed reside in Barcelona and Amsterdam.

Regarding problems buying tickets in general some users said

“I’ve missed trains waiting in line!”

“One time I lost all the tickets for me and my friends on a journey with lots of connections”

“I loved booking my ticket online — I don’t have cash!”

“Sometimes I’ve been confused where to go to buy the ticket — once I had to buy it from a tobacco shop…which was closed”

“Sometimes if I wait to buy my ticket at the station, it’s much more expensive!”

“Sometimes I don’t know what ‘zone’ some towns are in”

“In my own city the ticketing is easy for me, it’s only when I go to other cities that it can be more confusing.”

Most users had the greatest frustration in new places and with transportation such as intra-cty trains or coaches. It was a common theme that users didn’t like to pay cash for tickets and didn’t want to be overcharged. Users also sometimes found it difficult to know which ticket to buy in places with many ‘zones.’

We then continued to speak about the possibility of having a unified ticketing solution within an app where all parts of the journey could be selected and paid for at once. Some users said things such as:

“A better deal is important for me”

“Flexibility would be good for me.”

“I trust citymapper — I need to trust the app (to buy tickets from it.)”

“I’d pay more for convenience in a confusing place.”

It was a common theme that users wanted to know they were not getting charged more than if they had bought the tickets themselves. Some users also said the most attractive feature would be if the tickets actually came at a discount compared to buying them at each connection point. Users expressed concern about flexibility and that they would want to know that they could use the ticket for another departure if they were running late.

We also spoke about the types of transportation that users prefer and if they ever used any “third-party” services such as taxis, shared bikes, shared scooters or shared mopeds. Some users said things such as:

“I prefer to take trains or metros”

“I often use shared bikes in my city”

“I haven’t tried any shared things in a new city”

In addition to these sentiments, many users said they hadn’t tried shared services in other cities while they had in their own. Some users said this was because they didn’t know how to access them. Some users also mentioned that signing up for different services was time consuming.

The Problems

The problems to be solved are the following:

• We need to provide simple ticketing for complex journeys between cities.
• We need to make sure users know they are paying a fair price and/or getting a good deal.
• We need to unify third-party options (bikes, scooters etc) so users can pay and access them through the app.

The dreaded ticketing machines

Full disclosure — Citymapper themselves used this video, but it was too good not to steal!

How to Tackle These Problems

To solve these problems the app will be modified to include:

• A Combined Ticket “Citymapper One” purchase option next to journeys. Total savings will also be shown to users if applicable.
• In-app payment (Apple Pay, Google Pay or credit card details.)
• Once purchased the itinerary will be updated with “show ticket” buttons at the appropriate place in the journey.
• A wallet where all the tickets will be kept. Each ticket will have a QR code and ticket information to allow it to be scanned or checked visually.
• Options for third-party transportation options and the ability to find them and reserve/unlock them within the app. These services will be integrated with payment in the app as well removing the need to download several different apps.

The Prototype

The first flow here is for a multi-modal train journey.

This is a second flow for third-party transportation. This flow makes the assumption that users already have all the necessary user and payment information in their Citymapper account.

Looking Back On The Process

This was my first attempt at interviewing, ideating and prototyping. It was fun and challenging and was a great way to sink my teeth into the process. My takeaways from this process are:

• It’s difficult to not ask too many leading questions to interviewees. Sometimes I felt like I was trying to put words in their mouths or lead them too much. I think maybe using some kind of visuals could be a good way to get people talking without having to say too much myself.
• There is a lot to think about with prototyping! I tried to keep it simple but there are a lot of small interactions and screens that you forget about!
• The interview process was very insightful. I went in with a lot of my own ideas about what I would find, but was really enlightened by what people had to say.