rideguide

A Design for Good Project

Product Design

rideguide is a mobile journey planner app, with a focus on giving people more choice over how they travel.

Users can choose whether comfort, price, speed or simplicity matters to them most and rideguide will find a route that matches their preferences.

The Problem

A lot of people simply don’t like using public transport - which means they’ll turn to alternative methods of transport to reach their destination, such as private vehicles and taxis.

With ever increasing greenhouse gas emissions and growing climate concerns, the need to get more people on board with public transport has never been greater.

The Design for Good brief asks for a mobile application designed to address an identified problem space, relating to sustainability. rideguide is my solution.

The Research

My research for the project spanned a range of topics, from carbon emissions and environmental impacts, to transport spending, to understanding social attitudes and preconceptions.

I found there were several main factors behind reluctance to use public transport: busyness, overcrowding and cost.

Overcrowding and busyness make up a huge 90% of people’s reasons for being discouraged from using public transport, and 68% of people think train fares are poor value - so it’s no wonder why the public aren’t keen.

What would make people travel more?

Having understood why people can be reluctant to travel, I wanted to better understand what would make people more likely to use public transport.

I discovered three in four people would use public transport more often if they had a single effective digitised transport app.

Interestingly, people identified Cost, Convenience and Comfort as the three biggest motivators to travel using public transport. So, if it would be possible to address these three things, people may be more keen to use public transport.

Competitors

I looked at a selection of potential competing apps, containing some similar features or addressing similar user needs: Google Maps' Crowding Levels feature, Citymapper's many routing options, Trainline's SplitSave & Price Prediction features, and TfL Go.

I evaluated strengths and weaknesses of each of these main four competitors, which helped to define the scope of what exactly rideguide should be and how I could create a more streamlined user experience which considers all of these areas.

Interviews

To better understand people’s experiences, I conducted five user interviews. Interviewees spoke about lots of different pain points, which I grouped into those relating to Convenience, Physical Experience, Digital Experience and Value.

I also interviewed Jeremy Wiggin, Head of Sustainable Transport at Norfolk County Council. The council is currently working on integrated ticketing and enhanced information sharing with rail companies, as well as marketing campaigns to promote the transport options available.

Personas

To make sure I was considering all types of users in planning and designing the app, I created three personas based on Jungian Archetypes.

Jane represents a speed focused public transport user, caring most about getting to their destination as fast as possible.

Lauren represents a cost focused public transport user, who is happy to take a slower route if it means it’s cheaper.

Jake represents a comfort focused public transport user, who will pay more for a more comfortable journey - though this often results in using private transport instead due to the lack of options.

The Design

Routes Made for the User

rideguide’s first key feature is the ability to search for and plan a journey according to what matters most to the user. Users can pick between comfort, price, speed or simplicity when searching for routes, and a short explanation is shown when each one is highlighted.

In search results, users can easily compare different priorities and see further details about each route. Through an integration with Trainline, tickets can also be purchased for the specific journey chosen from this screen - removing the need for users to search again for the times they want to travel.

By giving users more choice over the type of journey they want, they’ll be more likely to be satisfied with a public transport option.

Bus & Rail Routes

rideguide also includes clear bus and rail routes. Users can view each stop along a route, and upcoming departures from the stop. There’s also a service indicator at the top of the interface, to communicate whether to expect delays.

The feature would work at every scale, from regional and local buses, to coaches, to trains, to the London Underground.

These are all networks with many different services and routes, and when making long journeys information is often not centralised. rideguide brings all of that data into one place.

Live Directions

One of rideguide’s main features is live, real time directions from the very start of a journey to the end.

As evidenced by research and user interviews, a key aspect of public transport people struggle with is navigating complex routes with multiple changes and unfamiliar stations.

Whether walking, waiting for a bus or train, travelling to the next stop or arriving at a destination, rideguide updates as you move to guide you through each step of your journey.

Station & Maps Info

Another aspect of public transport people may find confusing is navigating large, complex stations and terminals.

With an easily accessible button in the navigation interface, users can quickly view information about station facilities and open a large scrollable map of the station to find a platform or an exit.

Often, these are buried in train companies’ websites and hard to find, or only accessible in the middle of stations.

Station Maps & Info in rideguide enables users to feel more prepared and in control.

The Brand

To support these features, I needed to create a visual identity which reflected the goals & purpose of the app.

I created the name rideguide, and paired it with three main colours. I picked the variable typeface Urbanist for the brand, as I felt it appropriately reflects the clean, modern and agile look of the app.

Watch the
Video

Use the Prototype

Open in Figma
Project Summary & Evaluation

The Design for Good project is a project I am proud of, challenging and developing my skills in so many areas, from research, to design, and through to presentation and communication. The project taught me a range of new skills, including using After Effects for the first time to produce a one minute trailer video.

With more time, I would like to develop the app further with more detailed navigation interfaces covering more potential journey types and scenarios. Realisation of the app concept was somewhat restricted by the technical limitations of Figma, so a fully developed version of the app may be a future goal.

I am satisfied with the overall UX process that I followed through design and creation of the app, however it may have been beneficial to do further user testing with different iterations of design elements if time constraints of the brief allowed.

© James Hopper 2025