Network Rail – R&D: Using biometrics for railway ticketing

Client: RSSB / Network Rail  – UK 2016
Lead consultants : Cubic Innovation Centre, Cubic Corporation
Engineers : Bristols Robotics Laboratory – Centre for Machine Vision
Crowd dynamics : Movement strategies
Designers : Maynard – Jonas von Stedingk, Lead

This was a research project to determine if biometrics could be used as a ticketing token for the railway gatelines in order to increase passenger throughput, as well as  looking at other future applications in the transportation industry. If one could clear a crowded arrival platform, the following train could be brought in faster. It required coordinating cross-industry expertise in Tech engineering, UX, transportation, infrastructure, industrial design, service design and crowd-flow studies.

Jonas von Stedingk led the team whose role was firstly to optimise the user/passenger experience of the system and provide this input, upstream, into the R&D process in order to tie together the different elements into a coherent user-journey, from the initial passenger enrolment, through the station, during travel, through to follow-up.  This involved coordinating digital, technical, behavioural and spacial aspects and touchpoints, including app, BLE, gate approach, gate system and layout, as well as staff operations.
Secondly, the system was to maximise efficiency for the operator and staff in order to increase throughput and decrease fare evasion.

von Stedingk responded to the system integrators’ flow-charts with a user-centric flow chart (shown below) to get a holistic overview.  A service design methodology was then applied to fully integrate all touchpoints of the experience.  Dimensional and inclusive prerequisites for such a system were also established.