What if you could travel smarter with Citymapper?

Ironhack’s UX/UI Bootcamp | Design Thinking | Challenge I

Citymapper is a powerful app for city mobility, offering real-time transport options and mapping services between any two locations in supported cities. It integrates data for all urban transport modes and helps create smart cities that are sustainable, less congested and more usable for humans around the globe.

Source Citymapper

Although the current product of Citymapper already solves some of the main problems of urban mobility, there is one pain point for many users: the different amount of public transport tickets the users have to purchase, especially when they are abroad. Two things came to mind upon receiving this request:

1. Buying public transport tickets can be stressful for many people, so let’s conduct some user research to identify the main pain points.
2. This is might be a common problem that other companies may also be facing, so let’s explore the market before proposing a solution.

Interviews

I interviewed 5 people from age 26 to age 62 and divided the questions into three areas:

1. Questions about the problem
2. Questions about the people
3. Questions about the product

👉 Check my interview questions

Key insights
· Users value speed and convenience.
· There is a need to simplify the process into one unique form.
· Users want to feel rewarded and engaged with the app.
· Sustainability is a key factor for users who choose public transportation as a way to save money while also reducing their carbon footprint.
· Ads on the homepage are very disruptive.

What are the competitors doing?

Google Maps, Citymapper, Moovit, and Rome2rio are travel apps that offer different modes of transportation and have a similar approach. Here are some differentiations:

• Google Maps: Vast user base and extensive data, which includes real-time traffic updates, user-generated content such as reviews and photos, and Street View. Google Maps is also available on multiple platforms and devices, making it accessible to a wide range of users.
• Moovit: Focus on public transportation and its real-time arrival and departure times, route planning, and alerts for service disruptions. It covers over 3,000 cities around the world and provides information for buses, trains, subways, trams, and other modes of public transportation.
• Rome2rio: Its focus on travel planning and its ability to provide information on a wide range of transportation modes, including flights, trains, buses, ferries, and driving directions. It covers more than 200 countries and provides estimated travel times and costs for each option. It also allows users to book tickets directly through the app.
• Citymapper: It gives detailed directions and options for multiple routes and modes of transportation, as well as its focus on urban areas. It also provides real-time updates on delays and disruptions, and it has a feature that shows the best places to stand on a subway platform to get off at the right exit.

Citymapper has recently launched a Pass subscription service in London that offers access to all modes of transportation with a smart travel card integrated with their everyday multimodal mobility app. The bundle includes public transport, cycles, and cabs.

Let’s do some Benchmark, how other travel apps are improving the travel experience?

• Hopper is a travel booking app that uses gamification to encourage users to book their flights at the right time to get the best deals. It offers a feature called “Price Prediction” that uses data and algorithms to forecast future flight prices and tells users whether they should book now or wait. Hopper also includes a “Watch This Trip” feature that tracks the price of a selected flight and sends notifications when the price drops or rises.
• Travello, on the other hand, is a social travel app that connects travellers from around the world and offers gamified incentives such as badges, points, and discounts for completing tasks and interacting with others. Additionally, Travello is committed to promoting sustainable travel practices and offers information on eco-friendly activities and responsible tourism options. Its “Travello Challenges” feature encourages users to complete various travel-related tasks and earn rewards while promoting sustainable travel experiences.

My approach

After the users and the market research, I focused on 3 key areas to filter and funnel some ideas: payment integration, gamification and sustainability.

Idea #1

What if…you could have all your tickets integrated into one card that you can add to your wallet?

Payment integration Prototype

Idea #2

What if…you could make the experience of travelling by public transport more enjoyable by adding gamification and rewards?

Gamification Prototype

Idea #3

What if…you encourage sustainability and build a community around it, so people can feel more engaged with Citymapper?

Sustainability Challenge Prototype

Key learnings

• Conducting user research was important in understanding users’ needs and identifying opportunities, which helped develop and improve features that meet users’ needs and identify gaps in the market.
• Exploring the company and its competitors is a key step in identifying new opportunities that match users’ needs and helped define the best solution.