Improving passengers’ boarding and alighting experiences at the rear entrance of the future Futura coach

Abstract

The aim of this project is to improve passengers’ experience regarding boarding and alighting by designing the rear entrance and its vicinity. Based on the findings from literature researches on product experience and comfort, a series of extensive passenger researches were performed to explore passengers’ needs and wants of different levels. Four elements, ‘ergonomic enhancement’, ‘ spacious entrance’, ‘transition for immersion’ and ‘transparent information’, were identified to be essential for improving passengers’ boarding and alighting experience. The final concept was designed accordingly, and a full-scale mockup was built and evaluated. The result shows that the new rear entrance is capable of improving passengers boarding and alighting experience significantly.