Project Overview

Summary: We all use Google Maps to navigate exploring locally or overseas. It provides real-time GPS navigation, traffic updates, route planning, and location discovery. My focus was on enhancing the experience of the user when travelling, allowing them to save time and squeeze less with the crowd.

The Challenge

How might we help all commuters (including tourists and first-time riders) navigate public transport more confidently by clearly surfacing departure timings and indicating the optimal carriage door for their intended exit?

When visiting Korea. I noticed that Naver Maps had very useful information about

1. which door for quicker exiting

2. train arrival/departure times

3. which side the doors would open.

This made me wonder why these information were not available on Google Maps, resulting in me having to download third party apps.

The Solution

(Experience the prototype in full screen for a better experience; toggle between 'Before' and 'After' to see the differences)

Rationale

1. Added door number for easier alighting

   1. Supports pre-boarding decision-making: Users can position themselves on the platform before the train arrives so that they can reduce walking time after alighting, especially in large interchanges.

   2. Encourages forward planning behaviour, improving perceived efficiency of the journey.

   3. UX Principle: Progressive disclosure + contextual utility (information appears when it is relevant).

2. Made train departure timings more visible

   1. Reduces time anxiety & supports faster decision-making: commuters can quickly assess urgency and decide if they have to rush for the train even before entering the station or if they can walk calmly

   2. Improves scanability by presenting timing deltas (e.g., “2 min”) rather than forcing users to calculate from clock time.

   3. Lowers cognitive load by embedding actionable information within the main journey card instead of requiring extra taps. (I personally never even knew that Google Maps had train departure timings available because of how poorly placed it was.)

   4. UX Principle: Information hierarchy + recognition over recall.

3. Shifted (unnecessary) actions into a separate screen

   1. Only showing essential information: Previously visible buttons ('Not too crowded', 'Monitored security', etc.,) were not as important as train departure timings.

   2. Clean default view: prevents overwhelming users while still allowing depth and supporting power users who want more granular info.

   3. UX Principle: Progressive disclosure + clear affordances.

4. Indicate which side to alight

   1. Reduces last-second confusion inside crowded trains which is particularly useful for: tourists, first-time riders, users in unfamiliar lines.

   2. Enhances perceived reliability of navigation, not just macro-routing, but micro-movement guidance, providing the end-to-end transit journey support, from boarding position to alighting action.

   3. UX Principle: Micro-guidance improves confidence + situational awareness
      

      
      

Reflections

1. While frequent commuters may rely on habit, tourists and first-time riders depend heavily on digital guidance. This project reinforced the importance of designing for edge users, because improving accessibility for them ultimately benefits everyone.

2. I realised that navigation doesn’t end at route selection. The most stressful parts of public transport happen in micro-moments like boarding, waiting, and alighting. Designing for these small, time-sensitive decisions that may be overlooked, can actually vastly improve user experience.

3. A key consideration moving forward would be data reliability. Carriage positioning and door-side information require highly accurate, line-specific datasets. Future iterations would need to address data scalability and operational partnerships with transit authorities.

4. This project shifted my thinking from feature design to behaviour design. Instead of asking “What can we add?”, I began asking “What decision is the user trying to make at this moment?”