EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The objective of this executive summary is to give an overview of the project that was done in cooperation with Upstream Mobility. It is a subsidiary of “Wiener Linien” and “Wiener Stadtwerke” which is working on digital infrastructure and services to support the mobility provider in Vienna and other national and international cities and communities. The development and support of the WienMobil App of Wiener Linien is one of their best-known projects.

Goal

The main goal of the project was, on the one hand, to solve the problem of being dependent on Big Players like Google when it comes to digital solutions. On the other hand, the aim was to identify potential target groups and to test the user acceptance. The student team therefore worked on creating solutions that can be integrated in the urban mobility network using smart devices, like smart glasses, smart watches or mobile phones.

Methodology

The main methodology used was Design Thinking, an iterative, human-centered technique. Design Thinking involves five phases, namely “Empathize”, “Define”, “Ideate”, “Prototype” and “Test”. The first step “Empathize” involved conducting almost 100 interviews on the streets of Vienna to gain information about pain-points, likes and desires of public transport users. Apart from interviews and self-tests, like walking on crutches, simulating a hearing problem or using public transportation without any digital help, observations have been made to further understand the users and to look at public transportations from the views of various target groups. Based on the output of these methods the team created four personas and customer journeys in the “Define” phase and further identified ten relevant Key Insights (KI). Based on these Key Insights about 30 initial ideas were narrowed down to the ten most promising ones. They were then further developed within the “Ideate” phase of the process. After evaluation and consultation with the project partner, the team went through four rounds of rapid prototyping and testing of four main ideas to arrive at the final prototypes for solving current problems and pain-points of customers the best possible way.

Results

Within the course of this project the team was able to highlight various pain-points and blind-spots of the public transport system. This helped to come up with four Main Key insights, namely barrier-free information, comfort, planning reliability and own safety. To integrate these Key Insights into digital and smart solutions three different prototypes have been create, all focusing on another customer pain point. These three functions can be implemented into any mobility application and can also be adapted to various smart devices to guarantee a safe, relaxing and unique way of urban traveling for all potential target groups.

Cooperation Partner

• UPSTREAM - NEXT LEVEL MOBILITY GMBH
  Thomas-Klestil-Platz 13
  A-1030 Wien
  www.upstream-mobility.at

Contact Person

• Bianca Humer, MA, BA
  (bianca.humer@upstream-mobility.at)

Student Team

• Sara Bauer

• Jana Sabel

• Barbara Binder

• Theresa Alexandra Angerer

• Andreas Steiner

Project Manager

• Kommol Erik, MSc

• Kretzschmar Linn, MSc