Yashvardhan Bhardwaj

BIT SIZE CASE STUDY

Metro travel, redesigned

All you need metro app from first interaction to last exit. Covering navigation, ticketing, real-time schedules, and AR station wayfinding.

TYPE

Mobile App Design

PLATFORM

iOS & Android

Scope

Research & Design

TIMELINE

6 Weeks

Introduction

Metro systems carry millions of people daily yet the software supporting them is fragmented. Riders use Google Maps for routes, a separate transit app for schedules, a payment app for tickets, and nothing at all for station orientation. Metroute was designed to close that gap — one thoughtful product covering the journey from planning at home to reaching the right exit.

HIGH LEVEL OVERVIEW OF THE PLATFORM

Problem

Metro systems are built for volume, not for the person navigating them for the first time. The fragmented app ecosystem turns a 20-minute commute into a coordination problem — with 78% of surveyed users relying on 4 or more apps per journey.

USER JOURNEY

Before boarding

Route planning, line selection, ticket purchase, interchange logic

In the metro

Real-time updates, station notifications, alternative routes for delays.

After the TRIP

Exit identification, payment history, commute statistics, feedback collection.

core pain points

Map interpretation

Complex route maps overwhelm infrequent users and tourists.

Decision overload at junctions

Multiple platform choices with no contextual guidance.

Station tracking

Users lose count of stops and miss their destination.

Payment fragmentation

Inconsistent payment support creates friction at entry gates.

Exit confusion

Wrong exits force costly backtracks after leaving the train.

Crowding uncertainty

No visibility into peak-hour car-level occupancy before boarding.

Approach

Survey-based research across three user archetypes — daily workers, occasional riders, and tourists — supplemented by contextual observation across 4 metro stations during peak and off-peak hours.

RESEARCH

ONLINE RESEARCH

200+ respondents, 3 cities

Field observation

4 stations, peak + off-peak

Competitive audit

8 transit apps evaluated

USER TESTING

12 participants on prototype

USER FINDINGS & SURVEY DATA

78% used more than 2 apps per metro journey

34% had spent more than 10 mins finding the right platform

61% users waited at the queue to get tickets

91% expressed interest in a unified metro companion app

Check out the results

Designs

We explored three primary approaches to in-station navigation before settling on a layered model. Each was evaluated against the 6 pain points and tested with users in real metro environments.

INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE

HAND DRAWN WIREFRAMING

Diverged into several possible interaction models, tested different layout structures

Final Designs

Walkthrough of the designs and the feature set of the proposed application

Smart Pass setup

Users create a digital transit pass in 3 steps. Existing card balance is carried over automatically, with no manual top-up required on day one.

Journey Planner AND UPDATES

Door-to-door routing with live delay data, interchange countdowns, and car-level crowd forecasts: the three pieces users previously needed three apps to get.

AR ASSIST

Camera-based AR overlays platform numbers, exit directions, and transfer distances on the real environment, resolving the single most-reported pain point.