MATTHEW SUTIANTO s3137268

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. BACKGROUND

2. RESEARCH

3. INCLUSIVE DESIGN

4. METHODOLOGIES

BACKGROUND

This semester the Inclusive Design project will be focused on the redesign of Melbourne’s Public Transport Ticketing Machines. Personally having to use public transport on a daily basis for numerous years, there have been many observations made where these machines have caused inconveniences and deemed to be impractical. Therefore, with some adjustments and improvements made to the system, the results could potentially benefit the general public and the daily commuters. The main questions challenging this design project are “What needs to be changed?”, “Why it needs to be changed?” and “How will this change benefit commuters?”

RESEARCH:FLAWS OF CURRENT MACHINES

One of the main downfalls of Melbourne’s current public transport ticket machines is the unclear pur-chase process for first time or infrequent users. This is commonly the case for commuters such as interna-tional students new to the country, children and the elderly. The decision whether to purchase a ‘Full-Fare’ or a ‘Concession-Fare’, which train line/ zone they intend to use and travel to, how long they intend to travel for and using the machines interface add to the list of impracticality. Hence, why these users would rather choose to purchase the ticket from the station’s vendors/ bus drivers where they can ask the ticket staff for some assistance, or they end up purchasing the wrong ticket which can lead up to a penalty/fine.

Another downfall to these ticketing machines is that they can build up queues, causing commuters to miss their bus, train or tram. Reasons for this are caused by the machines taking too long to process (as there is a slight pause after each time money is inserted individually or when validating the ticket), the tactility

of the buttons (when paying by card), the unreliability of the machine (returns the coins or notes back out or is out of order), due to the unclear purchase process fro irregular users or simply because there aren’t enough accessible machines at certain locations. These machines have shown to be inconvenient in that there isn’t any note exchanger anywhere, it doesn’t allow more than 10 dollars in change when paying with notes, it only returns coins in change, only one coin at a time can be inserted and because it’s a repetitive process being disposable paper tickets. This also affects the environment in the sense that it wastes paper having to continually purchase tickets on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. There is however the option of the yearly ticket, but in most cases they are too expensive to afford for the average person or they’re not even needed as the commuter may not even travel on public transport every day of the week.

RESEARCH:CURRENT SYSTEMS AROUND THE WORLD

Countries and cities around the world have updated their public transport ticketing systems to new age technology. Places such as London, Singapore and Taipei all use what’s called ‘Smartcard’ technol-ogy. Replacing the disposable paper cards, the durable and reusable plastic cards are implemented with tags known as ‘RFID Technology’ (Radio Frequency Identification). RFID basically uses radio waves to emit and transmit signals via wireless communication and has 2 main parts: one part used for storing and processing and the other part used for receiving and transmitting. These smartcards are able to store credit and deduct everytime they are in use via a scanning method located on entry/ exit points of public transport gateways and stations. This ‘pay as you go’ concept has several advan-tages that overshadow paper tickets such as single fares being significantly cheaper, the credit that is used does not expire and is only used when needed, the daily price capping feature that automati-cally calculates the cheapest fare for the entire journey and also the automatic top up of credit when it falls below a certain value. Its security features include a tamper-proof antenna and chip built into the card as well as strong encryption settings that prevent misuse and fraudulency of the card. As a result, fast and reliable data transfer is secure. Overall, the commuter travels on public transport sig-nificantly faster and easier without the hassles of purchasing any tickets and the inconveniences that come with it.

RESEARCH:MYKI...DELAYED

Studies show that the current ticketing system in Melbourne is not the most practical of systems, hence why the Victorian State Government has tried to implement the “MYKI”. In theory, MYKI looked to replace the Metcard and V/Line paper cards with a more durable and reusable smart card that’s able to store money/ credit. MYKI was conceptually a good idea and appeared to be the right solution for Melbournian commuters, as similar cards are already successfully operating around the world. The convenience of this system was obviously to eliminate having to pay with cash/ coins and even eliminating the hassle of purchasing tickets in general. It basically works as a prepaid card that deducts from your credit each time you use it. It also calculates the cheapest fare for you as you only pay for what you use. Because it is a reusable card, there was no need to buy new ones, hence why you were able to use the card over and over again (which needs topping up when low) across all forms of public transport services.

This system was supposed to resolve these current purchasing ticket problems, but failed in the process. Having failed 10 percent of the tests prior to the launch date, MYKI is currently 2 years overdue and looks to remain as an uncertain idea of the future for Melbourne. MYKI’s downfall lied within its hardware and software reliability failing to perform on the day. During the trial of the system on bus routes between the Geelong railway station and Bellarine Peninsula (2007), commuters had problems with scanning successfully (hence getting charged more than what they should have), the bus driver’s machines software crashed several times and needed rebooting (throwing the route schedule/ timetable overtime) and even failing to accept notes in some of the machines. There are still many issues and flaws that are evident within the system that holds this whole MYKI concept back. It appears that this “revolutionary” idea is too far of a leap for Melbourne at this point in time.

INCLUSIVE DESIGN:HOW THEY RELATE TO THE DESIGN PROJECT

Out of the 7 principles of Universal Design, the main principles that relate to this project are Flexibility in Use and Simple and Intuitive Use. Because my outcome is designed for the general public that are commuters anyone from a young teenager all the way up to a senior citizen could potentially use public transport. Whether it be to travel to school, work or leisure purposes, the range of users that need and use public transport is undoubtedly diverse. Hence why my design outcomes need to be flexible in its use and also simple and intuitive so that these range of people are able to use the tickets and machines where no one is excluded. Comparing the different generations of ‘X’, ‘Y’ and ‘B’, every person within these categories understand and perceive things differently. Therefore my aim is to design a ticket system that could potentially be used by all with ease and comfort, which will benefit their lives by making purchasing a ticket one less hassle to worry about.

The key drive of the project is to try and understand what Melbourne commuters need. Participatory research and inclusive design work hand in hand together to ensure that what is being produced is what the consumers really need as a solution. This part of the research takes two forms; primary research being gener-ated by myself in order to obtain certain information (may take the form of surveys, questionnaires, observa-tion) and secondary being research involving already existing information formed by others in the same field of research. Research is the most significant part of designing in that it provides information and knowledge needed to know what to produce/ design.

Project “Redesigning Melbourne’s Ticket Machines” will be conducted through 2 stages. (1) Research; of current society, and (2) Translation: producing a design that conveys the new methodology/ paradigm. After the analysing, understanding, reflecting and interpreting

phase, the generation and production of these ideas and information will occur. There will also be more research to be carried out with the experimentation of material choices (recycled materials), manufacturers and costs and basic standards of production. The meth-odologies that will be used are Qualitative Research; observation of commuters, Environmental Studies, Quantitative Research; testing current theories and ideas, User Centred Design; the needs of the user, Pro-totyping; generating and testing developmental con-cepts and Mock Up; which are resolved solutions based on the completion of the 2 stages.

Considerations such as how it’s produced, how much it costs to produce, where it’s produced and what effects there are on the environment will have to be looked at. Once this and the Environmental Studies is completed, the Qualitative Research will be used in conjunction with User Centred Design to produce newly formed ideas of what the resolved outcomes could be like.

METHODOLOGIES

Having gathered and compiled all the information and research, the needs of the user must always be kept in mind when designing. When the designs have been finalized and answer most of the criteria, the generation of prototype production will be next, which tests the developmental concepts. Once completely resolved (opinions of outsiders approval), the prototypes will be refined into Mock Ups for potential production.

The plan for using these methodologies will generally progress in sequential order. The flow of each step is easy to follow and makes sense in setting up for the next stage. No part of stage 2 will be designed without having considered all information discovered from stage 1. Without the research completed the designs would not be useful as the designs would therefore be a result of my assumptions which are not entirely accurate.