Bike hire
Improving the hire experience at bike docking stations across the Transport for London network.
Santander Cycles is a public bike hire scheme in London. The operation of the scheme is managed by Transport for London and sponsored by Santander UK.
Santander Cycles now covers 100 square kilometres of London, making it the second largest cycle hire scheme in Europe.
There are more than 750 docking stations and 11,000 bikes in circulation across London. Since launching in July 2010, more than 57 million journeys have been made.
Every docking station across London has a touchscreen interface, linked to a keypad and PED (Pin entry device). This system allows customers to walk up, pay and hire a bike, without the need for prior registration. This system was designed and built for chip and PIN payment only.
As part of TfL's 2018 contactless initiative, a project was set up to replace or update all docking stations keypads, PEDs and touchscreens, to support contactless payment.
Design support was required to deliver the project and there was also a small window of opportunity to improve the hire experience.
Cycle hire docking station
Touchscreen interface, keypad and PED
My primary objective was to update the touchscreen hire flow to support contactless payment.
My secondary objective was to recommend any improvements that could reduce complication, speed up the process and be delivered quickly.
I had to be pragmatic in my approach. I had only two weeks to deliver my recommendations and had no other design support.
My effort was mostly focused on the primary objective, whilst also taking time to understand the future vision that could inform short-term improvements.
To better understand the service and the impact of contactless payment, I reviewed existing research, gathered first-hand experience and ran a stakeholder workshop.
I created a prototype of the current hire flow to test against variations that support contactless payment and other small improvements.
I developed the design based on internal testing and created a delivery plan for short and long-term objectives.
The first step of the project was to get a better understanding of the problems faced by customers when hiring a bike using a docking station.
I spent a couple of days sourcing research to ensure I was clear on existing insight and to avoid duplication of work.
I visited a docking station near Marylebone Rail Station to test the hire process and gather some first-hand experience.
I reviewed all the docking station touch points to understand how the service fits together from end-to-end.
I ran a workshop with the stakeholders to identify pain points and consider improvements to the hire flow. I also used this opportunity to understand any limitations of the contactless payment system.
Workshop with cycle hire team
I analysed the workshop output and cross referenced with existing insight to create a prioritised list of actions:
Ensure all payment screens support the new contactless system
Streamline the experience between the touchscreen and new PED screen
Remove any unnecessary screens from the core hire flow
Identify updates that meet the customer needs and improve the hire experience
Firstly, I created a prototype of the original hire flow that could be used as a baseline. The framework and all the UI components needed to be redrawn, so I could use these assets to explore new ideas.
The original hire flow consisted of 22 screens:
Screensaver
Start
Age
Safety tips
Processing
Privacy
Cost
Insert card
Processing
The scheme
Access
Bikes
Confirm
Terms
Enter PIN
Processing
Remove card
Hire now
Green light
Processing
Success
Receipt
Next, I explored the future vision of the hiring process, based on ideas generated in the workshop.
Workshop ideas for a future hire flow
After many rounds of iteration and testing, I created a 12 screen flow that I was confident would meet the needs of the customers and support the business objectives:
Screensaver
Start
Agree
Present card
Checking
Bikes
Confirm
Pay
Processing
Remove card
Release code
Finish
I facilitated a session with stakeholders to review the future flow and prioritise improvements to be included in the short-term release.
The 17 screen flow below shows the agreed approach. It strikes a fine balance between addressing the key objectives, whilst keeping development effort low for quick delivery:
Screensaver
Start
Age
Privacy
Cost
Insert card
Processing
Bikes
Confirm
Terms
Enter PIN
Processing
Remove card
Green light
Processing
Success
Receipt
All core payment screens have been updated to include contactless payment.
Old - Chip and PIN only
New - Including contactless
Touchscreen content is aligned to new PED screens.
Touchscreen chip and PIN pay screen
PED chip and PIN pay screen
Unnecessary screens have been removed to simplify the flow and improve the experience.
Safety tips
Processing
The scheme
Access
Hire now
The product vision and prioritised improvements were presented to the stakeholders with a resounding success. I delivered all design assets and documentation that went into the short-term release, as well as creating a roadmap for future phases and research activities.
An improved hire experience at docking stations
As the sole designer I played a vital role in user advocacy and shaping the product, whilst remaining sensitive to the business needs and technical constraints.