UX of Metro
By: Harsh Chauhan
Tags: First Post, Case Study, Design

Huda city metro, Gurgaon, IN

Complexities introduced with modern devices these days are really high. The functionalities are increasing and devices are turning smaller. Definitely these days smaller devices are loaded with features and designing them is becoming challenging for designers and even more challenging for users because if the device is poorly designed users have hard-time learning about how to use that device and it becomes a bad experience eventually leading to a bad design and may cost business loss for companies.

But having said that at the same time there are some designs that we interact with on a daily basis. Perhaps, if we go inside the mind and work behind those designs we learn some basic things that every designers should know.

Because the design which makes users life easier and happier are the ones in which designer chose to adhere to the basics of design principles.

In this blog let us try to understand the basics like affordability, signifiers, mappings, feedback and conceptual models if taken in consideration, result always fascinates the user and overall experience is also good.

DMRC: Delhi Metro Rail Corporation

For the moment if i leave the user experience part aside still I can say the introduction of metro, revolutionised the term public transport. Specially in overly crowded cities like Delhi, NCR, Kolkata, Bangalore, Mumbai none can imagine what would have been the scenario if there was no METRO.

Quickly, lets move to the UX behind metro and try to understand why and how metro can be judged on the scale of user experience.

PS: This case study is simply learning about UX and curiosity to analyse things.

Let’s get started…

Why metro routes have colour codes?

If you have travelled in a metro or heard people talking about it, you must have noticed people talk about colours if they have to go from place A to place B. For example: Blue line, Yellow line, Violet line, Magenta line etc. Now the question arises, why don’t we have JUST station names, or names after famous people, or after name of rivers.

To understand the logic, let us try to make analogy from nature and try to understand how nature tells us that:

A fruit is ready to be plucked?

Well, it changes its COLOUR! Right?

How nature tells us that leaf has dried?

Again, it changes its COLOUR from green to pale yellow or brown! Right?

But what exactly is happening is that nature creates a conceptual model in our mind which intuitively makes us think in a certain way and we understand the message.

Very intelligently designers of metro also took advantage of nature’s way of creating conceptual model which is easy and not new for any of the user who will board a metro. And this conceptual model has worked perfectly for metro commuters as well.

Entry-Exit, pricing system

Generally also if we notice any product, interacting point is very crucial for deciding the overall experience user will get. Therefore these starting/ending points should not be deviating from the affordability of product. i.e. the relationship should be consistent across the product.

And if we notice, affordability of metro is “maximum distance in minimum time”. Understand the keyword here is TIME.

Designers have kept this affordability in mind and created a system which works as simple as doors. That’s it! No hustle, no confusion, put the ticket on screen and door opens, job is done. You passed through it and ticket fare has also been charged. How beautifully things can be done, if one think and keep questioning how and why.

Platforms & Signifiers

If the basic principles of designs are kept in consideration the result speaks for itself. The platforms, stations, entry-exit gates for metro are designed really simple yet very thoughtfully.

Most of the things on stations are colour coded and boldly detailed. One of the best ways to use signifiers. Be it for disabled, blind, or anybody the signs speaks for itself asking for very less or no questioning.

For example:

Infographics with clear and blod texts are used on boards. Platforms have specially colour coded tiles(yellow) which warns passengers and works as caution sign. special tiles are used for blind people to guide them.

Metro Train Coaches

Indian railway is 173 years old which means people has seen it several phases of transition and are pretty accustomed to use it in a certain way. And this introduces new challenges for designers. Why?

Well! because it is really hard to give something new to consumers and make it likeable at the same time. So your product should be more innovative and relatable to previous one in a way that consumers don’t have hard time using it.

But credit goes to the designers who thought on each detail of coach and came up with innovation which literally changed the perception about public transports.

Doors are such simple things but yet too complex if we bind to specific products, especially with public transports. Because faulty doors can lead to problems starting from change of aerodynamic of vehicle to life threatening accidents.

Since the overall concept behind metro was using electric power, it became easier for designers to pick automatic doors. And this selection eliminated bug problems like delays, accidents, entry/exit of unknown objects when train is moving or at higher speeds. Designers added feedback mechanisms with these doors by adding yellow coloured bulbs and cautionary high pitch sound system that alerts users about which side door will open and when door is opening/closing. Clever design choice indeed!

Information, once user enters the coach, what was missing from 173 years of railways was information. Users only knew the starting-ending station. Very few knew where currently train is heading too, which station is next, in what time they will reach that next station. Alas! not now.

Designers addressed all these concerns in their design by adding infographic panels on both sides of coach right above the doors, so that people of any height will have a clear viewing angle and for more detail, info-sound system is also installed which keeps user updated about every detail about stations.

Cleverness & Innovation combined together, railway is used as one of the oldest ways of public transportation as it was and managed to carry more people at same time.

Metro designers kept these basics in mind and designed coaches which can accommodate even more people and then regular coaches. Eventually this benefited in two ways.

More people can travel at same time. Cost effective (for both producers and consumers)

Cost effectiveness(for consumers), since designers minimised on adding comfort users are able to save money on long distances compared to other transport. For ex. If I use comfortable service like cab to travel from Huda city centre to Noida sector 16 it costs Rs. 800 but if I choose metro for the same distance it will cost Rs 54. (money matters!!)

Cost effectiveness(for producers), metro project in itself is a huge project in terms of money, so it becomes really important for designers to cut on prices without compromising the experience. So designers saved money by keeping only two legs of seats and also removed cushions from seats by making it more ergonomic and saving more money on production of seats as well as maintenance of it.

Hanging holders & poles, all the holders and poles are given glossy finish, oleophobic coating and also special nut-bolts are used, and they are used for the reason, the reason is that, this design minimise human interaction and playing tendency with such things which eventually leads to low maintenance, less replacement of parts over long period of time and finally saving money and bringing production cost low.

Surely, i see metro as one of the design marvel but still it needs further improvements like better security checks, queue management, more comfort for users, lowering the prices, more eco-friendly. Which I am sure will be addressed in coming years. In this blog I tried to put my observation and knowledge in words.

Please add your comments so that I can improve and do even more detailed study of topics.

With these words, I take sign-off and will get in touch in my next blog. Till then, thanks for reading. Keep Smiling

Thank-you,

With Love & Regards