Transport for London
Service Status Boards
Summary
There are multiple ways that travellers on the London underground can find out the current status of the service - on the TfL website, via Twitter, SMS notifications etc. The Service Update boards situated near the entrance in every TfL station are by far the most ubiquitous channel of information. This project served as a tactical improvement to the system, giving tube users a quick way to check if their travel was likely to be disrupted. The old designs had been iterated several times, but were still experiencing problems - people didn't trust them and often ignored them completely.
My role
I was UX design lead, working with a researcher and a visual designer. My responsibilities included Information Architecture, prototyping and user testing solutions in a fast-paced two-week sprint.
The digital boards in 2014
The challenge
From early research conducted by TfL a range of issues with the original 'Rainbow Board' were identified.
Travellers were not confident that the board was showing them up-to-date information and approached it with the suspicion usually reserved for hand-written announcements on whiteboards. Additionally, it was hard to find the line they needed quickly while rushing to catch a train.
The approach
After studying the research to date we set out to establish some principles to address the public's concerns.
> Transparency
Communicate all issues clearly, even minor ones.
> First the worst
Bring issues to the top of the screen and order them by severity.
> All good, keep going
Good service should be the norm. Use one single 'Good Service' message for all lines to reduce cognitive load.
The updated digital boards today
We tested the resulting templates in train stations to ensure we are on the right track.
Key findings
> Tick-tock
Although the Service boards update every 5 seconds, travellers often doubted if the information was in-fact live. The original Rainbow board did not show a clear visual cue to make them aware of it. After playing around with several options we tested something that surprised us - a ticking clock near the Good Service message. The purpose of it is not so much to tell the time but to show a state change. The dynamic movement shifted the perception and our users now felt the information was up to date and represented the current situation.
> 'I need the green line'
The first cue for a big proportion of users is the colour of their line. This is, of course, the thinking behind the Rainbow Board. What this meant for our travellers is that when they glance at the board they are looking to see if only the colour they care about is associated with a problem. Everything else is secondary. Bringing issues to the top mean that one glance would tell the user if anything was wrong.
"You look for your line and if it is not up in the disruption panel you are OK.” (Testing Participant)
The updated digitalboards today
Outcomes
This project was initially seen as a tactical improvement on the already dated design that was in place in 2014. Our new designs were implemented in early 2015 across all 270 stations in the London Underground system. They are still live today serving ~5million passengers every day.