Check-in / Check-out

Abstract

This thesis is part of my graduation project at the OV-chipkaart Graduation Lab of the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering at the Delft University of Technology. The aim of the Graduation Lab is to improve electronic ticketing for travellers using Dutch public transport in a 3 to 10 year time-span. This work is supported by the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment, provinces (IPO), city regions (SkVV), Dutch Railways (NS), Rotterdam public transport (RET), and consumer organisation Rover. OV-chipkaart system The analysis of the OV-chipkaart system has made clear there are many aspects to the development of such a vast system. The technology and business aspects have been dominant in the development of this particular system. Travellers are expected to follow and adapt to the system instead of making use of the strengths of technology. The system is built on some principles like a decentralized system and face calculation at the end of the trip. These principles determine the usage to a large extent and are hard to change. Technology-based Self-service bring potentially advantages like availability and speed. With the introduction of the OV-chipkaart these systems have become more important when using public transport, but lack coherence across the entire OV-chipkaart service. Problems Travellers are facing problems when they interact with the OV-chipkaart in the public transport domain. Recognition of ‘OV-chipkaart moments’ The location of validators is different for many train stations. Most travellers are scanning the station for validators and regularly forget when they are distracted. Not only the location is important for the findability, the appearance of the equipment is in competition with other services and equipment. Coherence of services and equipment Many travellers use more than just validators. For adding credit or resolving errors, they use other equipment or service channels. The current equipment is in most cases not coherent and are not presented as a product family, working together to achieve a common goal. The interaction starts over again with each touchpoint making it an unpleasant and time consuming experience for travellers. Consistency of equipment appearance and messaging The equipment in the travel domain comes from various suppliers and have differnt appearances. All transport operators maintain their own equipment or have it done by their suppliers. Operators use different messages for similar or the same tasks. Travellers have to learn these difference or they just skip the text and try to grasp the meaning of light and audio signals. This is undesirable. Proposal: the payment border The payment border is a zone in which travellers have to perform an action to acquire a valid ticket for their trip by public transport. Validation also means making the transition from an unpaid to a paid area. The concept is a collection of various touchpoints which contribute to an overall interaction for all travellers which guide them in passing the payment border. The payment zone contains three stage: wayfinding & recognition; information & support; validation. The wayfinding & recognition stage is facilitated by the vertical and horizontal parts of the portal. The border is clearly visible from a distance, it is easier for travellers to locate and recognize where they have to validate their OV-chipkaart. The dimensions and angles of the validator have been altered for an optimal validation. The various messages on the display have been made more coherent. The information & support stage is now integrated in the payment border zone: a information panel is added and the information and SOS post is now located near the border. The aim of the redesigned touchpoints was to create an overall coherent validation interaction. All different touchpoints are now (re)designed and linked to facilitate this coherent interaction. With this result it should now be clear for travellers where to validate and what to do. By applying this payment border to all stations it should bring recognition with travellers. The design does not only facilitates ‘normal’ validation but also anticipates on unusual situations like an unexpected OV-chipkaart failure. Conclusions With the introduction of the OV-chipkaart new touchpoints were added to travel domains, rules and actions changed. New interactions were formed, but were never designed. Travellers are facing many problems when they interact with the OV-chipkaart system. The payment border concept brings clarity in the required actions. Travellers are supported by a seamless link between all the touchpoints in the payment border. Both the successful and failing validation actions are supported by the touchpoints. Based on the feedback from the evaluation study, it is expected that the introduction of the payment border concept will increase the usability of the OV-chipkaart. Implementation and further development should be done by a central, independent organisation. This organisation should also develop future concepts when technology platforms change.