IRONHACK’S PREWORK: DESIGN THINKING — CHALLENGE 1

UrbanGo

UrbanGo is a public transit and mapping startup based in Silicon Valley. Their goal is to solve the problems of urban mobility by offering the quickest and cheapest public and private transport routes to their users.

The problem

Solve the pain of having to purchase different public transport tickets by different channels.

Empathise

Who hasn’t been in a new city and intended to use the public transport, only to be more lost than ever. Which ticket should I buy, which zone am I in, where am I going, what pass is cheapest for me and so on.

To get a better perspective on this matter I interviewed people between 20–55 years old who use public transport relatively often both locally and when abroad.

The most common problem was which ticket or pass should I buy.

Everyone agreed on an app should be the easiest way but there are always some problems.

Common problem

If the app asks where you going (from A to B) and at what time there are always gonna be problems. Because one of the biggest headache is knowing exactly where you are going and how long it’s gonna take.

For example — you wanna go down town but you are new in the city so you don’t know where you are gonna stop. Or you are going to a party and need to get to the store on the way and you don’t know how long it’s gonna take, so buying ticket before hand is not a possibility.

People travelling abroad found it most stressful to buy ticket at the station. Putting in your credit card informations in public and when trying to figure out if you are buying the right ticket.

In conclusion

Interviewing the user is key. Hearing from them what the need and want from the app and what’s unnecessary. What I gather from my interview was this.

A app that allows you to make an account — even if you are a tourist.

Saves your payment method so you only need to do it once, in peace and quiet at your time.

App where you only need to put your starting point — not a point B.

App where you can buy more than just a ticket for yourself, maybe you are travelling with a kid or your friend phone is dead.

No starting cost as in buying a metro card, just paying for the ride.

Same price for the bus, metro or other transportations. Instead of buying ticket per transportation the ticket is only valid for an X period of time.
Offering extension on regular ticket for longer trips outside of the city, for example trips to the airport.

Simple and as few clicks as possible. Everyone I asked just use Google Maps so having a map or some direction of where you are is unnecessary and will just complicate the app.

So here is the first sketch of my prototype of that app.