Overview

In an effort to reduce costly printed tickets, address fraud challenges, and gather more accurate passenger manifest information, Amtrak launched its e-ticketing and mobile rollout in 2010. There were several pieces to this rollout: 

• Amtrak tackled the systems side of moving from manned counters and printed tickets to kiosks and a system that would support connected devices.
• Provide conductors with a tool simple enough to use to maintain their current pace but gather more up-to-date information.
• Provide consumers a way to purchase and use digital tickets, by printing at home, or by bringing their device on the train.

Challenge

Amtrak had attempted 4 times, unsuccessfully, to roll out a conductor e-ticketing solution. As unionized employees, conductors retain the right to veto any change that might negatively impact performance or ask for a raise to take on additional tasks. As such, all previous mobile attempts had been denied by conductors. Conductors are also considered the face of Amtrak’s customer experience as well as responsible for identifying Homeland Security risks while in transit; requiring a conductor to interact with a device to complete complex tasks would put customer service and passenger security at risk. Amtrak as a business was also new to working with User Experience, so internal education would be part of the process to get buy in on alternative approaches.

Solution

Create a mobile application with Infinite Peripherals sled, directed toward accommodating current user tasks in a quick and easy way, allowing ticket payment and collection, alerting conductors to any potential issues ahead and reducing the physical manuals conductors are required to carry. This application would also accommodate environmental challenges, such as typing while standing unassisted on a moving train, rapidly changing light and intermittent connectivity as the primary app focus. The application would also support DRM management and tie in to Amtrak’s e-ticketing services.

Secondary focus would be a supporting app for reporting maintenance issues and a consumer mobile application for ticket purchasing, scanning, planning and a travel log.

Process

In previous mobile attempts, Amtrak’s internal Business Analysts and Program Managers had been responsible for creating any mockups, which tended to rely on Windows-oriented UI patterns and would validate approach with a Conductor representative. My approach was the opposite, starting with user research in the field, validating with actual conductors and then getting executive buy-in on the approach.

User Research

Since I had very little knowledge of what’s involved in the Conductor’s role, I spent 6 months working closely with conductors and participated in ride-alongs throughout the NE corridor to observe conductors and get a better sense for their day-to-day experience. I also conducted interviews with them, did paper prototyping and learned more about their pain points and concerns.

Sketch, Whiteboard and Iterate

One of the challenges of the project was that the business had a relatively clear sense of what they believed the experience should be, based on previous efforts. It wasn’t always consistent with the real scenario that conductors experienced. Working closely with dev and a business analyst, we went through multiple approaches and gathered user feedback to achieve the best experience.

Partnering With Multiple Dev Teams

iOS was new to Amtrak’s in-house development team, part of my role was to facilitate communication between the iOS team and the in-house development team. If an idea was suggested, I would present it in a flow so help them understand which areas would work and which ones might create a brittle/at-risk solution. Each step of the way, I validated ideas with development to ensure anything we presented to conductors or stakeholders could be built.

After spending nearly a year on the multiple products, the Amtrak Conductor app was presented at a Union adoption meeting – the same meeting where previous attempts had been denied. After the demo was completed the Conductor Union representative asked for questions from the conductors. One conductor raised his hand and said, “I only have one question: How soon can we start using it?” Out of that a pilot program was rolled out in 2011 along select lines in the NE corridor, and then broadened to the mid-west, by 2012 it was no longer a pilot program and began being rolled out nationwide. It received much praise from conductors as well as from press and continues to be in use today. 

The consumer application has been updated visually, but the core UX remains largely the same as the initial concepts and continues to tie in with the overall e-ticketing systems.

Article: Amtrak Enlists iPhones as a Service Tool > 

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