← Back
Improving Travel on BC Ferries
Client: BC Ferries
Role: Research Lead, Product Designer
Project Timeline: 6 months
Estimated Read Time: 4 minutes
Summary
BC Ferries (BCF) is one of the largest ferry operators servicing western British Columbia that connects the islands to the mainland. These ferries carry both walk on and vehicle passengers, with a variety of vehicle types. Current Conditions is a set of pages with information on routes of the day that assist primarily vehicle passengers without reservations to inform day-of travel. There was an opportunity to be able to refine the pages to be able to improve information comprehension and scale the features to service all types of passengers.
Goals
- Provide relevant and easy to understand information to facilitate day-of travel for passengers
- Recommendations for a consistent experience across touchpoints
BCF fleets are able to handle both oversized and regular vehicles. Due to the nature of some industries that are reliant on BCF, some passenger types do not make reservations ahead of time and rely on being drive-up passengers.
Approach
As a page that is utilized by many customers, it was imperative to approach the project with care and comprehensiveness. A robust Discovery and Design and Research phase for major routes was completed and a beta release on the live website launched to continue to collect live metrics and feedback that will feed into the refinement of the page.
Project Phases
1. Discovery
A range of discovery activities were run during this phase including:
- Technical discovery to understand parameters of the technical systems involved
- Customer survey and workshops to better understand day-of travel patterns and needs
- Stakeholder workshops to understand business needs and nuances
2. Design and Research
The design and research phase was iterative with conceptualization and mixed methods user research before the design of the beta. This phase included the following:
- Conceptualization and validation of net new features and refined page design
- Mixed methods research and validation including design surveys, preference testing, click testing and unmoderated and moderated usability testing
- Design reviews with stakeholders
3. Beta Release
The beta release remains live and collecting data and feedback, with active marketing to drive traffic for 12 weeks. The beta included all major routes and included the following:
- Collection of key metrics such as page visits, time on page, hover/click rates of key areas and more
- Collection of qualitative data through an embedded design survey
4. Refinement
A North Star of Current Conditions was designed with the MVP being the beta release. The refinement phase will be taken in the future with consideration of the North Star design, technical requirements to meet North Star and beta performance.
The Work
Conceptualization and Research
Vehicle Deck Space
Key Design Concepts
- Introducing real time data showing reserved space broken down to checked in and not checked in vehicles
- Information on when no-show reservation space gets released
- Standby vehicle type data (understanding this data helps passengers make better space assesments - eg. a semi-truck takes up more space than a sedan)
- Historical no-show data (in North Star design)
- Breaking mixed vehicle and oversized decks availability more clearly (to be continued to be explored in North Star design)
The introduction of the checked in data facilitates passengers to make more informed choices on their likelihood of making it onto a sailing based on unreserved space available and number of reservations who have not shown up.
Information Hierarchy
Key Design Concepts
- Introduction of a siderail in desktop version to facilitate information hierarchy and reading order to match customer needs and journey
- Improvements to UI to improve content blocking, key information and actions
- Refined copywriting to facilitate customer comprehension
Beta Release
Key Actions
- Coordinated efforts with marketing and PR to advertise the beta experience across customer touchpoints
- Integration of content and touchpoints to the beta in key areas of the website
- Weekly assessment and reporting of metrics and qualitative data with adjustment of marketing efforts accordingly
Note: A North Star design that includes more recommended and validated features was developed during this project. These designs are not shown in this case study due to organizational privacy limitations.
Outcomes
The beta design was shown to have favourable sentiment with
- 82% finding the information that they need easy to find and understand
- 78% agreeing to strongly agreeing that the design is an improvement
- 80% ranking usability to be easy to very easy
Customers found the introduction of the reserved checked in data to be valuable in assisting them to make a game-time decision.
“The bold "Check in opens" section easily highlights when passengers should arrive at the terminal, and knowing that there is a potential of Pending Space to be released greatly assists the passenger in their decision to attempt to sail at a certain time.”
“All the information was easy to read and understand. I especially love seeing the percentage of reservations that had checked in, those remaining, and when available deck space will open up for the reservation no-shows...”
The beta design validated key new design features and helped BCF to understand where there are still areas for improvement.