Project Homer
How can we make London Public Transport More Efficient?
What Sets Us Apart
About the Problem
London is a busy metropolis at the heart of the United Kingdom with a complex and extensive public transportation system that allows for effective transportation around the city. The efficiency of London's transportation network is paramount to the functionality of this global city. The intricate web of buses, trains, bicycles, and taxis connects millions of residents and visitors daily.
The London transportation system is designed with accessibility, sustainability, and innovation at its core. London has the world's first underground railway, the London Underground, which began operations in 1863. Since then, the network has evolved into a comprehensive and complex system. This system is ever-expanding and innovating to cater fo the ever-growing demands of the dynamic population. As London has expanded, so has the challenges and opportunities it faces. These surround public transportation efficiency, and the continual development to create a more efficient system.
Efficiency was our focus when coming up with a problem to tackle around London’s transportation network. We wanted to go beyond the dictionary definition of efficiency, extending it into the nuanced experiences and expectations of the diverse community that relies on London's transportation network. This moved us to our chosen problem statement which is, ‘How can we make London Public Transport more Efficient’. This centred our research around defining and understanding the public transport network in terms of the definition of efficiency from the users of the network.
In this study, we embarked on a journey to dissect the efficiency of London's public transport system through a multi-method approach. Our methodology incorporates Netnography, delving into the digital communities discussing public transport. Cartography Deep Mapping, which explores the psychological aspects and spatial aspects through colour analysis. Finally, Semiotics, unravel the language of signs and symbols that guide commuters through the city.
These chosen methods bring together a set of lenses that we use in synergy to understand the user's perspective of the network. By combining these methodologies, we aim to provide a holistic understanding of the challenges and opportunities that London’s public transportation system has. From this, we can provide insight on the problem and recommendations for the future.
Key Insights
The Netnography exploration culminated into five user-defined factors around the perception of efficiency. The five key factors are: Reliability, Frequency, Accessibility, Strikes, and Software/Technology. These emerged as central to the problem which highlights the multifaceted nature of efficient public transport in the eyes of the user.
Our Netnography journey not only provided user sentiments but also unravelled the ideals and insights that the public had towards transport efficiency which fed into the Semiotic and Deep Mapping methods. The interconnectedness of these factors shows the need for a comprehensive and strategic approach to improvements.
Despite the effective physical signage across the London public transport network the communication ability within the physical space is effective. Our exploration using semiotics and cartography deep mapping allowed us to prove this showcasing the effective design language and use of colour for functional communication. However, this communication does not translate well when communicating disruptions due to strikes which causes a disconnect in the public’s views on the reliability of the transportation network.
We can make London public transport more efficient by taking the skills that are already present in the physical signage and translating those to the digital realm to combat poor communication around strikes and disruptions. Also, through the Netnography analysis, an insight came into the interconnectedness of the factors. We discovered interconnected relationships between the five factors and from this we identified frequency as a catalyst for improving them all due to their connections. By reducing the time intervals between each mode of transport. The adverse impacts of repairs, strikes, and other potential disruptions were mitigated. This approach not only improved reliability but it also addressed issues of accessibility which makes regular transport more feasible for individuals facing challenges in its use. The increased frequency will affect costs, and this could be reflected in rising fares. Our Netnography-driven insights prompted us to look at the other factors to see if one could be used to mitigate a consideration. Convoluted routing emerged as a potential solution, intending to streamline these routes and thus reduce overall travel times. This would not only contribute to cost mitigation but also would tackle the efficiency of each route.