Overview
Ran a structured ideation workshop for the agency behind California's Pacific Surfliner route, mapping digital ideas for the first-and-last-mile, booking, and on-board passenger experience by impact versus effort.
Who This Is For
Regional and national rail operators, public transport authorities and mobility agencies that want to improve the passenger experience beyond the booking page. This case is most useful if:
- "improve the passenger experience" is an ambition without a list of concrete ideas
- the journey to the station and time on board get less attention than booking
- you need to prioritise ideas by impact and effort before committing budget
- you want stakeholders to generate the ideas, not just approve them
The Challenge
The LOSSAN Rail Corridor Agency, which runs the Pacific Surfliner route along the California coast, wanted concrete digital ideas for improving the passenger experience.
Not only at the point of booking, but before passengers reached the station and while they were on board.
Our Approach
In July 2018 we ran a "How Might We" workshop, following a value-proposition-canvas exercise that mapped passenger needs against what the agency's digital channels offered.
- Three passenger moments: the first-and-last-mile journey to and from stations, the booking experience, and the on-board experience.
- Impact versus effort: every idea plotted on a grid, so the agency could see what would move the needle against what it would take to build.
- Concrete ideas: among them shuttle schedule information and location-aware departure alerts, an interactive station and destination map, pre-boarding video content, a simplified one-click booking flow, an on-board wayfinding map showing amenities and conductor location, geolocated points-of-interest alerts, and faster onboard wifi.
Impact
From ambition to a prioritised list. A broad goal became a set of concrete, buildable ideas, ranked by impact and effort.
The whole journey, not just the ticket. Ideas covered the trip to the station and time on board, where most of the passenger experience actually happens.
Booking is a few minutes of a journey that can take hours. The workshop put attention where passengers spend their time.
Delivered while employed at Making Waves (later NoA Ignite), as part of a content and UX team. Any public information referenced here is used for identification and does not imply endorsement.
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