On 27 March Geke van Dijk was invited to present at the National Public Transport Conference in Amersfoort, together with Niels van Hal from Prorail. They showed the process and results of the award-winning service innovation project they worked on last year in collaboration with NS and Edenspiekermann.
The two new services, developed and tested live during the project, provide innovative ways for sharing real-time information to train travellers. A 180 meter led display above the platform shows exactly where the train is going to stop, where the doors are, what the composition of the train is, and where the best chances on finding a seat are. For travellers with a smart phone, a new app also convey the same dynamic information. Both service concepts turned out to be highly favoured among travellers as well as employees. Based on the quantitative and qualitative results of the 4-month live test, a business case for the national roll out was made. (More information on our public transport project.)
It was great to share the experiences gathered during the project in a conference session with other professionals from the public transport sector. Some knew about the project, but others did not. It would be great if all providers of public transport services could benefit from the service design approach that drove this project forward.