Challenge 1 — Design Thinking
UrbanGo is an app that offers its users, the cheapest and quickest public and private transport routes. Their mission is to simplify public transportation for commuters.
1.Empathize
Personal Introspection
· What problem are you solving?
The problem I am solving is to simplify the process of buying transport tickets by knowing the cheapest and fastest option available at a certain time.
· Who is your audience?
The main target audience is visitors and tourists that need a quick access to times of service, destination and the different method of transport available along with its prices.
· Who is your client’s competition?
Google Maps, Moovel, CityMapper, Bart.
· What’s the tone/feeling?
A successful app should provide users a good performance, reliability and unique value.
Interview Questions
1. Do you currently use any transportation apps and what are the pros and cons?
2. What is your experience when purchasing tickets abroad?
3. Do you usually use public transport when traveling?
4. Have you used Mobile Apps to purchase tickets?
2. Define
Research conducted on 5 public transport users based in Bogota-Colombia, generated different experiences on the use of public transportation. First of all, there are no transportation apps available in this city. Users rely on the use of Waze and Google Maps to find out an approximate time of arrival to their final destinations.
When traveling abroad, users manifested not being aware of urban mobility apps. They have experienced frustration when it comes to purchasing tickets abroad, mostly due to language barriers and complicated ticket machines. Most of them thought that the implementation of a mobility app was a great idea for efficiency and money/time saving purposes.
The main problem is to educate users on the benefits of using mobility apps. It is important for users to experience safety and reliability when using the app, since it is going to save their favorite locations and financial information. It is also important to provide users with real time information about their trip in order for them to save time and money.
3. Ideate
1. An in-app feature that shows every available method of transportation based on the desired destination. A section that lets the user see which method is cheaper and faster at the current time. This will help users to experience an intuitive and practical app.
2. An app that allow users to create an account if they decide so, explaining the benefits of having all their information in the app in order to save time and to get updates about their upcoming trips, promotions and information on possible delays. Users can also modify the language and currency if they are traveling abroad.
3. An app that has real-time data of the different transportation methods along with fastest routes and cheapest options depending on the time of the day.
4. An app that is compatible with mobile and apple watch. (Many users prefer to use their apple watch when they use public transportation because it is hands free)
5. An app that gives the option to purchase 1 ticket, a weekly ticket or monthly tickets. The tickets, when activated, are going to display a QR that is going to be scanned at the different stations.
4. Prototype
5. Lessons Learned
With this project, I learned more about mobility apps along with its challenges and benefits. I had a great time interviewing people about their points of view on these apps. Most of them had no idea about them, but all of them coincide on how great it would be to have an app where you can find all the available methods of transportation, its prices and time. I also enjoyed the prototyping process because it helped me to organize my ideas better.
