TicketSimply app by Bitla

Bitla is the one of the world's largest technology and solutions provider for the bus industry. Founded in 2007, it is now a part of Redbus-MakeMyTrip Group (NASDAQ: MMYT), one of India’s leading online travel company.

Bitla serves over 2,500 bus operators managing 20,000+ buses daily, and has presence in India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Chile, Colombia, Peru, and Nigeria.

Business need

As more Bitla-powered bus operators transitioned from traditional POS devices to touch-screen POS systems, the demand for a touch-based in-bus ticket booking solution grew rapidly across the country.

To address this, Bitla approached us to develop a lightweight, user-friendly ticketing app tailored for conductors managing semi-long bus routes (4-6 hours). The app included seat allocation functionality to ensure an organized and seamless travel experience for passengers.

Understanding the hardware

Traditional POS device

Android POS device

Traditional POS devices had become a logistical challenge for operators, while Android POS systems provided significant advantages, such as compact, powerful hardware and versatile software compatibility through the Android ecosystem.

Although replacing traditional POS devices with Android POS systems required a significant upfront investment, most bus operators began seeing substantial business value in the transition. The Android POS systems not only streamlined operations but also enhanced efficiency and reduced hardware dependency making the investment worthwhile in the long run.

End goal in hand & my role

The goal of the project was to design a straightforward, user-friendly solution with an intuitive interface, enabling bus conductors to transition seamlessly to the new system with minimal training or onboarding. The solution needed to cater to the conductors’ operational needs, ensuring quick adoption while minimizing disruptions to daily workflows.

In this project, I was responsible for leading all aspects of design and research, working closely with a project manager from Bitla. My role involved conducting comprehensive user research to uncover pain points, designing wireframes and prototypes, and iteratively refining the user interface based on testing insights. I ensured that each design decision aligned with user needs and project goals by facilitating biweekly reviews with the head of design and the broader team. My contributions spanned end-to-end design ownership, from initial research to final implementation.

Understanding the user?

Indian bus conductors, typically aged 25-50, play a vital role in ensuring smooth bus operations by issuing tickets, managing passenger queries, and maintaining schedules. Predominantly male, they work in both urban and rural settings, often under varying literacy levels. Systems designed for them should prioritize ease of use, reliability in diverse conditions, efficiency to streamline tasks, lightweight portability for mobility, and rugged durability to withstand demanding environments.

Indian bus conductors play a critical role in ensuring a smooth and organized travel experience for passengers. Their responsibilities include issuing tickets, managing passenger queries, ensuring proper seat allocation, handling cash, maintaining route schedules, and coordinating with the driver to ensure timely operations.

Demographics:

Typically aged between 25-50 years.
Educational background varies, with many having basic to moderate literacy levels.
Predominantly male, though there is increasing gender diversity in urban areas.
Work in both urban and rural settings, often covering long and semi-long routes.

Understanding user needs

Ease of Use

Tools and technologies must be intuitive and require minimal training to accommodate their diverse skill levels.

Reliability

Devices must function seamlessly in varied conditions, such as crowded buses or remote areas with connectivity challenges.

Efficiency

Digital systems should streamline operations, such as issuing tickets and managing seat allocations, to save time and reduce errors.

Mobility

Solutions need to be lightweight and portable, allowing them to move freely within the bus.

Durability

Hardware must be rugged and durable, capable of withstanding frequent handling and challenging environments.

Initial research

To better understand the daily challenges faced by bus conductors, I conducted a diary study by traveling on a bus route from Indore to Bhopal via Dewas in Madhya Pradesh, India. This experience highlighted several inefficiencies in the ticketing process, particularly with traditional POS devices that lacked seat assignment functionality. Conductors had to manually issue tickets to walk-in passengers, leading to problems such as double bookings and confusion in seat allocation. For instance, at stops like Dewas and Ashta, walk-in passengers often occupied seats that were later double-booked by new passengers, forcing conductors to resolve conflicts on the spot. These recurring inefficiencies not only disrupted operations but also negatively impacted the passenger experience and the operator’s reputation.

We partnered with Chartered Bus Service in Indore, Madhya Pradesh (India), to pilot this project, which is one of the biggest Bus operator in Northern India.

To gain a deeper understanding of the daily challenges faced by bus conductors, I adopted a hands-on approach by traveling on a bus route from Indore to Bhopal via Dewas (a town in Madhya Pradesh). This immersive experience allowed me to observe the ticketing process firsthand, uncover underlying inefficiencies, and analyze the various moving parts of the system in real-time.

During this journey, the conductors were using traditional POS devices to book tickets. These devices lacked critical functionality, such as the ability to assign seats to individual passengers, leading to confusion and inefficiencies in managing seat allocation and passenger experience.

Here is a scenario demonstrating some of the key challenges identified during this journey.

(Note: The following scenario is a representation of the challenges observed, rather than a step-by-step account of how events unfolded.)

3:30 PM (Starts at Indore)

The bus begins its journey from Indore, with 24 passengers boarding at the starting point.
All passengers at this stage have pre-booked tickets, and seats are allocated based on their bookings.

At this point, the bus carried a mix of accounted passengers (those who had pre-booked their seats online) and unaccounted passengers (those who boarded as walk-ins without prior reservations).

3:50 PM (En route Indore suburbs)

Approximately 20 minutes into the trip, the conductor starts manually booking tickets for walk-in passengers who board the bus without prior reservations.

By this point, the bus would typically have completed all its stops within the Indore city limits. This provides the conductor with a brief window of time before the next stop to begin booking tickets for walk-in passengers. During this time, the conductor often walks from seat to seat in the moving bus, manually issuing tickets.

4:05 PM (Reached Dewas)

The bus arrives at Dewas, a stop along the route.
A walk-in passenger boards the bus for the Dewas-to-Bhopal route and sits in an empty seat (Seat 44).

The seat is not officially blocked in the system, as the passenger has not booked in advance

4:35 PM (Midway to Ashta)

The bus is now at full capacity, with all seats occupied, leaving no availability for new passengers.

Which poses a challenge because while the bus is en route anyone can book

5:30 PM (Reached Ashta)

The bus reaches Ashta, another stop along the route.
A new passenger books Seat 44 for the Ashta-to-Bhopal segment at the Chartered counter in Ashta.

Since the system does not account for walk-in passengers already occupying seats, Seat 44 ends up being double-booked. This puts the conductor in a challenging position, having to resolve the issue on the spot to avoid passenger dissatisfaction. Such incidents can lead to negative experiences, ultimately impacting the bus operator's reputation and brand image.

6:50 PM (Reached Bhopal)

This process would then be repeated several times throughout the journey.

This is not isolated incident; it tends to repeat multiple times throughout the journey as new passengers board at various stops. This cycle of confusion can persist until the bus finally reaches its destination, creating a frustrating experience for both passengers and the conductor.

This diary study highlighted significant inefficiencies in the ticketing process, largely stemming from traditional POS devices lacking seat assignment functionality. Consequently, conductors had to manually issue tickets to walk-in passengers, often resulting in challenges like double bookings and seat allocation confusion. To address these issues, we also observed the current workaround they rely on:

Identified problem

There are now two passengers assigned to Seat 44, creating a conflict.
The primary reason for this issue is a lack of real-time communication between the bus conductor, the head office, and the ticket counters at various stops.
Seat allocation for walk-in passengers is handled manually, and there is no mechanism to block seats for unreserved passengers in the system, leading to double bookings.

Current workaround

Upon asking the bus conductors, they mentioned that they use a temporary workaround:

When a walk-in passenger boards the bus for a long trip without prior booking, the conductor calls the office to block a specific seat for that passenger.
This process requires coordination over phone calls, adding extra steps and delays.
Conductors reported making 2-4 to as many as 10-12 calls daily to the office to manage such seat conflicts and ensure smoother operations

While this workaround addresses the immediate issue, it is inefficient and prone to errors, impacting both the conductor's workflow and the passenger experience.

Proposed service blueprint

To streamline operations for bus administrators, we proposed building an ecosystem around Bitla’s existing service management tool, ‘Ticket Simply’, which efficiently handles the heavy lifting of managing trips.

For bus conductors, we designed a straightforward solution: POS devices preloaded with trip details. These devices allow conductors to book tickets seamlessly during the journey while accurately tracking both online and walk-in seat bookings.

At the end of each trip, the conductor would return the POS device along with the cash collected for walk-in bookings to the admin office, ensuring a smooth handover process.

Usability testing

To evaluate and enhance the usability of our wireframe design, we conducted a three-day user testing study with 15 participants, introducing a scoring system to measure success. Each day focused on testing key steps such as selecting destinations and starting trips, identifying pain points, while implementing iterative updates to the prototype. The scoring system tracked completion rates for both core and non-core steps, offering valuable insights into user efficiency and satisfaction. This structured approach allowed us to pinpoint specific challenges, refine the design, and significantly improve performance metrics across iterations, ensuring the solution met the practical needs of bus conductors.

Day 1:
The first wireframe iteration was tested with five participants (average age: 27). The overall completion rate was 76%, while core steps achieved 85%. Participants struggled with non-core steps like Start Trip and End Trip and a core step, Select Destination. During the Select Destination step, participants frequently requested a reference "slip," explaining that the old POS machine used specific numbers for stops, which they had memorized or referenced from a printed list.

Day 2:
An updated wireframe with larger CTAs and other changes was tested with five participants (average age: 32). The Start Trip step showed notable improvement, but participants continued to struggle with the Select Destination step and requested a reference "slip." Core step completion dropped to 80% (-5%⏬), while the overall completion rate remained steady at 76%.

Day 3:
The final wireframe iteration introduced stop-specific numbers and provided a printed reference for participants. This change significantly improved performance. Five participants (average age: 30) achieved a core step completion rate of 92% (+12%⏫) and an overall completion rate of 95% (+19%⏫).

Wireframe | Iteration #1

As we understood some of the challenges faced by Bus Conductors on a daily basis and , we decided to build a basic concept around that and test it with the conductors.

1. Login

Conductors will be provided with a login information from the admin office

2. Trips

Trips will be auto-populated from once the conductor logs-in

3. Trip details

Conductor will have to select Destination of walk-in passengers, Source will be auto-updated based on Bus location

4. Coach layout

Conductor will use it to assign seats for the walk-in passengers. Seats for online bookings will be blocked automatically

5. Details page

Conductor will have an option to see the details once, go back and correct if any detail is incorrect

6. Confirmation page

Once the conductor has hit ‘Confirm & print’. This screen will be shown while ticket is printed on the device

Task flow

To transform our observations into measurable metrics, we categorized our wireframe into core and non-core steps required for completing a ticket booking. We then devised a simple scoring system to evaluate the ease with which users navigated and completed these steps.

Scoring system

It evaluates how intuitive and efficient each step in the process is for the bus conductor using the POS system. This helps identify bottlenecks and areas for improvement in the user interface or workflow.

Day 1 | Usability Testing

On Day 1, we tested the first iteration of the wireframe with 5 participants whose average age was 27 years. The overall completion rate for all steps was 76%, while the completion rate for core steps was higher at 85%.

During the testing, we observed that users faced challenges with the non-core steps, such as Start Trip and End Trip. They also struggled with one core step in particular—Select Destination. While selecting the destination, participants frequently asked for the 'slip.' Upon inquiry, they explained that the old POS machine assigned specific numbers to each stop. They would simply enter these numbers to select a destination. Over time, they had memorized these numbers and often relied on a printed list for reference.

Day 2 | Usability Testing

Updates in the wireframe | Day2

On Day 2, we tested a slightly updated iteration of the wireframe, incorporating larger CTAs across the app and a few other key updates. The Start Trip step showed a significant improvement, demonstrating the impact of these changes.

However, in the Select Destination step, participants continued to request a reference 'slip,' similar to Day 1. While there was a slight improvement in metrics for this step, the issue persisted.

We tested with 5 participants whose average age was 32 years. The completion rate for core steps dropped slightly to 80% (a -5% change compared to Day 1), while the overall completion rate remained steady at 76%.

Day 2 scores are as follows:

Day 3 | Usability Testing

Updates in the wireframe | Day3

On Day 3, we tested another updated iteration of the wireframe, this time introducing specific numbers allocated to each stop and providing participants with a printout of those numbers.

This small but impactful change resulted in a significant improvement in both core and overall completion scores.

We tested with five participants, with an average age of 30. The completion rate for core steps increased to 92% (+12%), while the overall completion rate improved to 95% (+19%).

Scores from Day 3 are as follows:

Crisis management

While preparing to test our concept on the ground, we encountered an unexpected challenge- the 'InVision' mirror app refused to work on the test POS device. Despite our best efforts, time was running out, and we needed a quick workaround. Testing on a phone wasn’t an option, as it wouldn’t replicate the authentic experience of using the app on the actual POS device. To solve this, we improvised by securely taping a phone with a similar screen size onto the POS machine, ensuring the test felt as close to the real experience as possible. This is how it ended up looking 🥲

Wireframe | Final iteration

After multiple iterations, user testing sessions, and insights-driven improvements, we came up with the final iterations—crafted to address user pain points, streamline the ticket booking process, and deliver an intuitive, seamless experience for bus conductors.

1. Login

2. Trips

3. Trip details

4. Coach layout

5. Details page

6. Confirmation page

Key learnings

The Power of User-Centric Design: Observing conductors in their daily workflows highlighted the need for solutions tailored to their fast-paced, high-pressure environment. A straightforward, intuitive design with minimal training requirements proved essential for smooth adoption and seamless integration.

Value of Hands-On User Research: Conducting in-person testing with real users, including early wireframe evaluations, uncovered critical pain points and ensured that the design addressed practical, on-ground challenges.

Small Changes, Big Impact: Minor yet thoughtful design adjustments, crafted in close collaboration with end-users, can lead to substantial improvements in user experience and operational efficiency.

Current status

This product is currently an extension of Bitla(Redbus)'s TicketSimply app, it can be enabled on a POS device by the admin, TicketSimply is currently rated ⭐️4.6 on Play store.