NS mobile app
With the introduction of the OV-chipcard for public transportation in the Netherlands came a wave of complaints about usability issues. This project studies the usability of error recovery from errors experienced with the OV-chipcard at the checking in/out poles and gates of the Dutch Railways. The study was conducted as an observational study with a staged scenario where the participants were given a malfunctioning OV-chipcard. Concluding we have identified that there are actually two main problems the participants needed to solve: Fixing the underlying problem with the card and to catch the next train despite the error. A very important issue was that participants had difficulties understanding the error messages, they were too ambiguous and did not guide the users in the right direction to solve their problem. download paper
“What users prioritise, influences their problem solving strategy and their user experience of public transportation.”
The mobile check in concept is an future concept vision in were the OV chipcard is integrated with the mobile phone by NFC technology. This allows for a much richer experience and the ability to guide the user more successful when encountering an error. The result is a more pleasant experience and a less stressful travel.
