Easy like Monday morning
The Region Uppsala commuter app “UL”, while aiming to accommodate a variety of use cases, suffers from a significant usability flaw that hinders the user experience, particularly for the most common scenarios.
The design appears to treat all use cases as equal, resulting in a convoluted process for obtaining a ticket. Despite the existence of numerous use cases, it is very likely the overwhelming majority of users follow just a couple of predominant paths.
Unfortunately, this means that the user flow for obtaining a ticket, a fundamental action, is burdened with unnecessary complexity.
In essence, the UL app forces users through an unnecessarily large number of steps, creating frustration and inefficiency in what should be a straightforward process. The failure to prioritize the most common user flows leads to a lack of user-centric design, diminishing the overall usability of the app.
This flaw not only complicates the ticket purchasing process but also detracts from the app’s efficiency, potentially discouraging users from utilizing the service regularly.
Below are more details of the various usability grievances.
Main Screen
The above Main Screen is where the commuter initiates any app action.
Analyzing this, it is likely the majority of commuter transactions is of two types:
- A commuter that has purchased some monthly or yearly ticket and wants to show a valid ticket to a validation machine available on buses etc.
- A commuter that has NOT purchased a monthly or similar ticket, but instead prefers paying for individual journeys as she travels.
Despite either transaction type, it is very likely the journey type (from-to) is from some often frequented points A-to-B or a return journey B-to-A. Going to and from work, to and from school, or to and from the city center likely constitute in excess of nine out of ten commuter transactions within the UL app.
Further, it is also very likely these journey types all lie within the same ticket type (as in: same cost) for the individual commuter.
It is also very likely the number of travelers using the ticket do not change between uses. Likely the main ticket type genearlly used is a ride for a single person.
Combining the above statements show that a ticket search can be condensed into a single button “Get me a ticket” for the overwhelming majority of non-period-ticket commuters. Naturally, that button could be presented on the Main Screen above. It is startling to see that three quarters of the Main Screen available screen estate is instead used for a photograph of some Uppsala commuter location.
Back to reality
Instead of the one-click purchase as proposed above, the UL app requires the user to press a series of TWELVE buttons when purchasing a ticket.
These buttons involve:
- Searching for a specific trip: four clicks plus typing
- Selecting an offered journey: one click
- Performing the actual ticket purchase: seven clicks (showing purchase intent + selecting ticket type + selecting number of adult and child travelers + pressing Pay + confirming the intent to purchase)
Further, the selection of the number of adult and child travelers is for some reason hidden in a dropdown dialog. The screen estate of said dropdown would easily accommodate the Adult and Youth travelers options which would save the user from having to press two buttons for expanding and minimizing the dialog.
As the default city journey ticket is time limited to some 75 minutes, arguably most commuters wait until the last minute before confirming the intent to purchase. Last minute likely means the commuter seeing the bus approaching. As most non-period-ticket commuters likely use the “Travel funds” feature of the UL app, there obviously needs to be sufficient funds to complete the purchase of a ticket.
The UL app however validates sufficient funds only after the user has confirmed the intent to purchase a ticket! Not having enough funds means the commuter needs to refill the Travel funds using a rather time consuming process involving authentication and other technical details. Naturally, there is not enough time to refill the Travel funds as the bus approaches. This moronic phasing of the purchase transaction likely causes great stress for the average commuter as refilling Travel funds needs to be done on average once every three trips for a default city journey — unless of course you fancy parking more than necessary of your hard earned cash in the UL app.
But not only that
When returning from say a trip to the city center, it is likely the user will do a search of said B-to-A return journey — or possibly use the Favorites feature where often-used point-to-point journey searches may be saved for easy access. Having already purchased an A-to-B ticket, the user however is not presented with information of the fact that she has a valid ticket for this trip. Instead, the “Select ticket” button is always shown. This likely causes the user to at times mistakenly purchase an additional, unnecessary, ticket.
Further, as seen in the screenshot the app has a nice feature showing real-time schedule route delays and the exact location of any bus. The user may expand the Travel instructions card upward.
For some reason, the user is NOT allowed to decrease the size of the Travel instruction card. This means the map is only allowed to occupy about half of the screen estate.
This is likely very annoying for users who want to focus on the information given in the map.
Not so Favorites
As mentioned, the app allows for the saving of named A-to-B journey searches. Saved journeys are available under the Favorites tab as seen in the screenshot below.
When properly configured, this feature is likely often used by work commuters to check upcoming departures. As central as this feature is, why is it not presented in the Main Screen?
Summary
Addressing the various design flaws requires a reevaluation of user journeys and a shift towards prioritizing the most common use cases.
Streamlining the ticketing process for the predominant scenarios would significantly enhance the app’s usability, providing a more intuitive and efficient experience for the majority of commuters.
By recognizing and prioritizing the union of commonly used paths, the app can better cater to the needs of its primary user base and improve overall user satisfaction.
