Have Trainline nailed their UX?
Quick feature thoughts and improvements for the Trainline app
I’ve been travelling a lot by train this Christmas holidays, something I have never really done as I prefer driving. From Stuttgart to Paris, Bournemouth to Norwich, Waterloo to Newbury you name it. As a result, i’ve been using the UK and EU versions of the Trainline app to book my tickets and navigate my journeys.
Good design is invisible and this is something I’ve taken a moment to appreciate the Trainline app. After a few booked tickets and a few journeys, I have come to realise that the app has a really nice experience, something that is very contrasting with the train services themselves. I thought this would be a great opportunity to jump into critiquing the app during my latest travel to pick out the best and the worst, maybe even some improvements.
Keen to note that this is my first attempt at a critique, something I want to practice and get better at to evolve into fuller case studies once I have some other side projects finished.
First things first, if you don’t already know…
Trainline is not a rail service company, it’s a tech company, meaning that they are completely separate from each of the train services they provide ticket booking for. This probably works in their favour as it allows people to separate below par train journeys to the booking process.
Trainline is essentially a one-stop app that allows you to book tickets for multiple train service providers across the UK and Europe. Its currently up for debate if they overcharge but anyway, that’s none of my business.
Trainline have an edge through their ‘one step ahead’ management of their app. They allow a user to stay updated with the journey through route planning and regular updates.
First impressions
First impressions of the UI & the first part of the overall experiences are positive, you are welcomed to a screen divided by search options and filters which in the scheme of the general hierarchy of want I needed to achieve was easy to comprehend. The clearly illustrated route options were easy to interact with and as you would expect the search bar automatically started to fill the location you were trying to search.
Nothing too complex, the app was off to a really great start. I particularly appreciated the large fill button with negative text to complete the search as I don’t think ghost buttons demand enough attention when it comes to users completing tasks.
The search section is accompanied by two other sections found in the bottom bar for global navigation. There is a favourite section which one would assume is to save your most common routes/journeys & there is my tickets section which was obviously for when I had purchased tickets.
Ease of booking
Booking takes minutes (if you know where you want to go mind you), through the search you are able to find train routes to your destination at regular intervals to find the best one to suit you. The prices and time of journey are clearly indicated for each route.
It is, however, an important note to say that there is some difficulty in comprehending route planning. As so many similar journeys at similar times are presented to you with different timed journeys you have to click on each individual route to see the details, connections and times of that journey. It’s not ideal and perhaps could be ironed out with some improvements.
I would suggest more transparency is needed for this part of the user journey. Perhaps by pressing and holding onto a journey, a preview could appear, this would be making the most of the 3D/pressure sensitive touch on most devices.
UK vs EU
One of the biggest differences between the UK and the EU versions of the Trainline app is the ticket section. Inside the actual app, they are pretty much the same, you are given your journey details and ticket with either a digital barcode or collection code.
However, in the EU version of the app, I had the opportunity to add my train ticket to my apple wallet. It may not seem like much but this makes a very big difference to me, it was really pleasing to add to my collection of existing tickets in my apple wallet. It’s a shame that the UK version does not allow this.
Furthermore, the use of a barcode to scan yourself through turnstiles is something that should already be more widely used. Ticket collection is more feasible but outdated, more should be done to move towards all tickets being digital for a faster and more efficient service in and outside of the app.
Connecting connections
I feel as if one area Trainline does fall short in is connecting your connections in the journey. Enough information is given for each and every stop detailed in your journey but sometimes you have to walk between stations, get the tube or even a bus to the next part of your journey with no information of the whereabouts of that station’s location.
This may fall outside of the scope of the Trainline but for a complete user experience, it’s something they could work on.
The existing London Tube app does a great job at connecting users to their journey through intuitive and enjoyable visuals, what to say Trainline couldn’t take up some of these inspirations instead of providing me with a still tube map so I have to find the way for myself?
Live location updates
Currently, Trainline keeps up to date with your journey with a simple line and dot visual. However, I know that American airlines provide a visual for customers of the plane across its journey, maybe Trainline could use something similar so that users could enjoy something closer to their actual destination?
Empty screen states
A great feature of Trainline that deserves a shoutout is the empty screen states. Although they are still frustrating it’s better than nothing.
OK, cutting it short… It’s Christmas. I hope this has been a decent critque into the Trainline app, let me know what you may suggest or do differently and make sure that you all have a great holiday.
