UX/UI Case Study: Redesigning a Public Transportation App for a Large Touristic City
By: Bravegeeks Team
Tags: Public Transit, UI, Case Study, Dubai, UX

Background

We came up with an idea of redesigning the public transportation app after one of our geeks visited Dubai for a vacation in January 2018. He was impressed by the city and, most of all, by its public transportation system RTA that included metro, buses, trams, and even water buses.

However, our colleague noticed that the public transportation mobile app was outdated, had limited functionality, and was hard to use on the run. So we decided to bravely (as we always do) redesign it.

Discovery

We didn’t find conducting a full benchmark analysis relevant for this project because it was supposed to be different from competitors at its core idea. Instead, we decided to build the functionality of the app by conducting brainstorming sessions with our team, reading the users feedback for similar apps on Google Play, and talking to locals who regularly use public transport as well as tourists that visited Dubai before.

We started the project by defining two main target audience groups: tourists and locals. Thus, the app must function in a way that works efficiently for both of them. Then we focused on establishing a thorough understanding of the target audience acquired from their behavioral patterns and possible needs and expectation.

Next, we conducted an analysis of the challenges they might be facing and listed use cases for each of the groups. Those activities gave us significant insights into what tourists and citizens of large modern cities might be looking for when using public transportation.

Use cases for both tourists and locals

Tourists

All public transportation in Dubai is bound by an e-ticket system called Nol. Nol cards are accepted in taxi, paid parking, public spaces, and parks. When a tourist first arrives in Dubai, he/she most likely doesn’t have a Nol card and barely has any idea of what it is and how to get one. For example, our colleague did struggle with that matter when he first arrived in Dubai and shared with us that other tourists he met during his trip had a similar experience.

There is more than meets the eye though. The system does not charge a fixed-price ticket to enter. On the opposite, the cost of the trip depends on how long it takes to get to the destination point. Thus, it is essential for a traveler to know the current balance of the Nol card and be able to top it up online at any moment.

Moreover, the rules and laws in Dubai are strict and, occasionally, differ from the ones western people are used to. For example, appearing in a public place under an influence of alcohol might even lead to immediate deportation. Of course, no one wants that to happen so knowing those rules in advance is a must in this country to avoid any trouble.

Based on the challenges tourists are facing, the following use cases were drawn:

Purchasing a Nol card (online and offline)

Checking the card balance

Topping up the card

Getting a Support service in the app

Traveling around the city (navigation, visiting touristic spots)

Getting to the desired destination

Visiting prominent touristic spots

Acquiring useful information about the city (local rules, fines, emergency hotlines, accessibility information)

Locals

Locals, unlike tourists, generally know the city well so they are rather focused on checking their card balance and topping it up. According to the users’ feedback from the other apps, we found out that many of them currently struggled to do it on the run and they found the process of adding credit to the card bulky and unreliable.

Besides, there are many temporary workers with a lower income who are looking for a possibility of adding several Nol cards in one smartphone.

Based on the challenges locals are facing, the following use cases were drawn:

Checking the Nol card balance

Topping up the card

Getting a Support service in the app

Acquiring useful information about the city (emergency hotlines, accessibility information)

Functionality

The next step we took was to outline how the acquired use cases are going to be placed in our app.

Top-up user journey

Nol card

A challenge most of the tourists are facing when first using public transportation in Dubai is figuring out what kinds of Nol cards exist and where to get one.

We understood that the Nol e-system was complex and tricky. That is why we added the screen that would appear at the first launch of the app. It provides a description of each Nol card type and suggests to either purchase one online or visit a nearby office to do it.

Balance and topping it up

The app is now centered around its primary function of checking and topping up the Nol card balance.

One of the main issues we identified from the analysis of a users’ feedback for the similar apps was a high degree of the inconvenience they faced when adding credit to their Nol card.

Some of the reviews for similar apps on Google Play

Thus, our goal was to make sure that this process was as easy as possible so we came up with a complex solution for it.

The balance is instantly updated each time the user opens the Home button. Moreover, the app allows adding several cards on that screen and changing between those by swiping to the left and right.

After a user fills out his Nol card details, the app automatically saves his/her card number and stores it only on the user’s device to make it personalized and safe to use.

The Top-Up feature is available in hard-to-miss Floating Action Button. There are two ways to make a payment: by either using Google Pay or adding bank card details.

People often tend to forget topping up a card in time and it usually happens at the least convenient moment, for example, at the metro station or a bus stop. In those circumstances, filling out bank card details causes hustle and can put the safety of the banking information in danger. That’s why a user can also securely save his/her bank card information in the app to make future payments easier.