OnRoute: A new travel application is born

Do you know the feeling of being lost in a big and crowded station, while you have got only 2 minutes left to catch the train or to find your way to the right bus stop? This is when a travel application can be very useful, but unfortunately the applications currently available usually only show at which platform you have to be, but not how to get there.  In addition, many apps do not combine information about different kinds of public transport properly. These are two of the most important improvements for travel applications, that we ( group 15 of the course User Interface Design) established on the basis of (1)short interviews with users of the public transport and (2) a user test of three different travel applications: NS Xtra, OV992Pro and Trein.  In addition to determining whishes and needs for the use of a travel application, a goal of the user research was also to get insight into the positive and negative experiences people have with using different sources to search for travel information.

The major findings of part 1, the interviews with travels, were as follows: 1) Travelers indicated that a downside of using travel signs on stations is that there is no information available about the duration of the trip. 2) The information on the digital screens is not always correct, especially when there are delays or revised departure tracks. 3) People prefer the use of websites and applications above the use of information provided on the stations. The major findings of part 2, the task assignments, were as follows: 1) Common advantages of  existing travel application are that the meaning of buttons and icons are not clear and that people do not notice they can click on information to get more specifics. 2) The applications do not meet the needs of the users to combine different types of public transport or this option does not work properly. 4) The respondents indicated that they find a simple design most suitable for a travel application.

In addition, both part 1 and 2 of the research showed that according to users of public transport a travel applications must provide at least information about:

·         route planning

·         departure platforms and time

·         delays and alternative routes

·         duration of the route

·         different kind of public transport

·         map of the rail road network and (large) stations

·         surroundings and how to spend time while waiting

On the basis of these outcomes we developed a high- fidelity proto type of OnRoute: a new travel-application.To meet the requirements of the user we identified the following key principles for our design:

1. To design a user-friendly travel application which combines different types of public transport

2. Which allows people to get the necessary information they seek with a quick glance on their mobile phone

3. Which provide them with walking routes on (large) train stations and alternatives on how to spent time while waiting. 

For a better understanding of our product and the steps we walked through, watch this video, starring Eugene, Jan and Etienne, our lovely group members who also implemented the prototype, by clicking on the following link: http://vimeo.com/23954159