Delhi Metro Mobile Application
Client
Delhi Metro Rail Corporation
My Role
Independent UX Researcher
Tools
User Interviews
Project Duration
3 Months
Public Questionnaires
Affinity Mapping
“Sarth has done a meticulous and critical study on redesigning of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) App. His in-depth insights specific, actionable and futuristic recommendations have immense potential to help us in essentially connecting to millions of our users and making their every day commuting experiences much more pleasant and smoother.”
—Mohinder Yadav, Sr. Deputy General Manager, DMRC
Overview
This research aims to bring significant value addition to the proposed redesigning of the DMRC Mobile Application, by introducing a new paradigm of User Experience (UX) as the foundational core to guide this Redesign exercise for its large—daily 650,000+ commuter base.
The research follows scientific methodologies and includes User Interviews, Public Questionnaires, Requirements Study and Case Studies to determine the core issues that need to be resolved. Specific User Experience research methods of Journey Mapping, Card Sorting and Affinity Mapping have been used to design a conclusive and actionable "User Flow" that caters both to the needs of DMRC and its users. Going beyond research, this study also proposes a Wireframe design to facilitate and enhance the ease-of-usage of the proposed User-Flow.
Problems with the current app
Users' Feedback on Play Store
Even though App ranks fairly well, in the use case most of the users feel that the app does not provide many essential details about the travel. Also, a large number of people state that it is confusing, unresponsive and it takes them more than necessary time to find what they are looking for.
Use Case Interviews
The users were annoyed with the steps to take to reach the information. They preferred Google Maps over the DMRC app as this app doesn’t give the information they need and is frustrating to use. I gathered that the app needs to be relooked at, as a system to solve the issues that are being faced by the users. I decided to delve deeper into what problems the people are facing in general & how to tackle them.
I designed a questionnaire on google forms and shared it amongst online forums of DMRC users across Reddit, Telegram and WhatsApp. Few important questions are:
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What do you currently use the DMRC app for?
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What additional information do you use in the app?
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What more services would make you more likely to use this app?
Organizing the Data
Using the data gathered from the Questionnaire and the interviews, I prioritized the needs of the people, grouped and linked them together to finally arrive at a tangible user flow that encompassed the needs as well as the features that DMRC is to roll-out.
User Research
Learnings
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Passenger interaction revealed that there are many user groups who have recently started using mobile devices. To make the app appealing to them, it should be designed with keeping in mind the requirement of the diverse communities in mind.
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Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, I reached out to the people through internet forums. The people who participated in the survey were only a fraction of the people who use the metro. Having an opportunity to be at the station and conduct the questionnaires would have been more useful.
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It is of utmost importance to align the needs of the users to that of the service providers. The suggestions I had received from the users had invaluable suggestions for the betterment of the app. Most of these points had been overlooked by the requirements' statement prepared by the DMRC.
I took cues from the Metro Policy 2017, Govt. of India and the idea of a universally accessible “Digital” infrastructure and translated the above User Flow into a Clean Wireframe we can tackle most of the problems the users are currently facing
This wireframe address the commuters' pain points, user-suggestions and DMRC’s requirements. Here are some of the salient features of the design—
Home Screen
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Removed the opening Banner Screen
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Incorporated DMRC logo in the home page
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Minimal interface with only the most prioritized features based on user feedback
Station Information
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Incorporated the suggestions of Next Train Timings and Station Capacity History from questionnaires
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Designed it as the single screen to find all information about a station including the Events, Exhibitions and Delays
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Retained all original features
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Incorporated DMRC in the home page
Menu Screen
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Introduced the Menu Screen - accessible from all active screens
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All Secondary & Tertiary needs are grouped within it
Fare, Tokens & Cards
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Grouped all the Token and Fare related functions, grouped under one tab to avoid confusion
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This page can house any additional updates and changes like the new RuPay feature
Guidelines
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Grouped all the information and text pages from various places together into one space, removing redundancies for easier access to the Information
User-Flow to Wireframe
Client Testimonial
“Sarth has done a meticulous and critical study on redesigning of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) App. His in-depth insights specific, actionable and futuristic recommendations have immense potential to help us in essentially connecting to millions of our users and making their every day commuting experiences much more pleasant and smoother.
Setting the right context, Sarth has taken cues from the Metro Policy 2017 and the idea of a universally accessible “Digital” infrastructure. He has accordingly designed this app to provide - “Digital” Integration between various transport modes like roadways, railways, non-motorized transport etc. to enhance the seamless mobility of the citizens and encourage Eco-friendly public transport. This is expected to enhance last-mile connectivity and connect users with all integral services of the national capital Delhi.
We acknowledge with appreciation his deep understanding of the larger urban policy and mobility issues, his instant empathetic connect with our users especially with the youth, his command of latest tools and dedicated hard work put in this exhaustive study in such a short time. We look forward to incorporating and implementing his very relevant and useful findings into the new design of the application for the next level of user satisfaction.
Mohinder Yadav, Sr. Deputy General Manager (Corporate Communications),
Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Ltd.