Hello everyone! Today, I want to share my experience working on a design thinking project for UrbanGo, a public transit and mapping startup based in Silicon Valley. UrbanGo aims to revolutionize urban mobility by providing me with the quickest and cheapest public and private transport routes. As part of the prework, I set out to create a new feature that tackles one of my most significant pain points: the hassle of purchasing different public transport tickets. Join me on this journey as I empathize, define, ideate, and prototype solutions to enhance UrbanGo’s user experience.
User Interview: To gain valuable insights, I conducted an interview with a user who has experience using public transport, especially abroad. Through this interview, I delved into the main challenges I face when buying tickets. I discovered that the complexity of ticketing options, long queues at ticket counters, language barriers, and the presence of scammers were major pain points. Moreover, the introduction of public transit cards introduced further complexities and difficulties in getting refunds.
Defining the Problem: Based on the interview findings, I defined the main problem from my perspective: “UrbanGo users encounter significant challenges and frustrations when purchasing tickets for public transportation. The complexity of ticketing options, long queues, language barriers, inefficient ticket management, lack of cost-effective options, and occasional encounters with scammers create a cumbersome and stressful ticketing experience.”
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Ideation and Potential Solutions: With the problem well-defined, I moved on to ideate potential solutions. I brainstormed various ideas, such as streamlining ticket options, improving the mobile app, introducing an all-in-one ticketing system, integrating with ticketing systems, providing real-time tracking, offering multi-city ticket bundles, implementing AI ticketing support, ensuring accessibility, and addressing fraud and scam issues.
Prototype: From the plethora of ideas, I selected the top solution and developed hand-sketched screens for it. My focus was on creating a simple and intuitive design to address the pain points effectively. The prototype showcased features like a unified ticketing system, in-app ticket purchase, and and AI Chat Bot Ticket help to enhance the overall ticketing experience.
Conclusion: In conclusion, this prework for UrbanGo has been an exciting journey of empathy, creativity, and problem-solving. I have identified the key challenges I face when purchasing tickets for public transport and proposed potential solutions through the design process. My prototype lays the foundation for a more user-friendly and efficient ticketing feature.
As I move forward with the project, I aim to refine and iterate on this solution, keeping user feedback at the core of my design decisions. Solving the ticketing hassle of urban mobility is crucial to UrbanGo’s mission of providing the best possible experience for its users.
Thank you for joining me on this design thinking adventure. Stay tuned for updates on my progress, and let’s work together to transform urban mobility for the better!
