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Travelling with the Digital Revolution, May 2015 Master of Design Page | 1
Travelling with the Digital Revolution, May 2015 Master of Design Page | 2
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Travelling with the Digital Revolution, May 2015
Abstract
Indian Railways is the most used mode of transport in India. It connects almost all the parts of
the country and is budget friendly for all the different classes of people. With the fast growing
technological advancement, Indian Railways has also developed itself in various aspects; not
only in operational functioning but also for the passenger services. From providing charging
sockets in trains to launching online portals for ticket booking, PNR status, train running
information, etc. Indian Railways has done the best for the betterment of passenger services for
past 162 years. Developments through technology are the need of the hour and one such mode
of development is mobility. Mobility has been in trend from 2012. Mobile browsing has gained a
boost as almost all the online portals had started mobile applications to provide any time
services to the users. These applications have made user engagement in business more
effective and have also gained profits to the business. The trend to use mobile apps for getting
services affects various businesses linked to it. With internet of things (IoT) being the latest
mobility trend, everything at the touch of your mobile is what the user wants.
Considering both – Indian Railways and Mobility trends, the following research is about how the
railways has been developed by the government as well as private sectors in terms of mobile
technology. The research finds out the need gap of difficulty in decision making for users to
select the mobile application and trains to travel from the list provided. This need gap is further
studied to find a design solution to create a user centric design.
Keywords: Indian Railways, Mobility, Mobile Apps, Decision making.
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Travelling with the Digital Revolution, May 2015
Chapter 1
Introduction
0000000
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Travelling with the Digital Revolution, May 2015
1.1 Indian Railways and its digital Platforms
The Indian Railways launched its online e-ticketing system in 2002 with an opening of
only 27 tickets booked on very first day. The mobile application was launched in
October 2014 by the name IRCTC Connect.1 Apart from the official IRCTC application,
after the launch of the website itself, many travelling sites had started online train
booking and had included the same on their mobile applications too. For e.g.
Cleartrip.com & makemytrip.com. Apart from such travel planning sites, other
developers also started developing applications for android, iOS and Symbian
platforms. Within a year, there were about 274 applications on Google Playstore, 122
on iOS appstore. These applications perform various functions like ticket booking, train
running status display, food ordering, alarm setting, and many more. Most of these
applications perform similar functions differing in the number of functions or the
dependency of authentic information, etc. It is difficult for the user to decide between
so many available options to choose the perfect one as many of these applications
are not used by even 10 people and are rated 4 and above out of 5 star marking on
the store. There are mobile applications related to railways that perform completely
different operations than the mainstream needs. Rail alarm is the application that rings
an alarm 25 kilometers before the station of de-boarding arrives. The ‘Meals on
Wheels’ and travelkhana.com takes your order of food from a selected menu and
delivers to your seat. But these are just a few examples; there are so many other
problems a user (passenger) has during the whole activity of travelling; right from
planning the travel to travelling on the selected day and reaching the destination. But
the mobile applications has surely changed the experience of travelling with Indian
Railways in a way that satisfies the customers in almost all the major areas where he
can face challenges.
1.2 Project Brief
With all the applications available with different functional aspects, the project is led to
study the various applications that are existing. Finding problems faced by user in
using these applications is the important intention of the research. This will be done
by using various research methods for primary and secondary data collection. Further
one of the problem is to be taken for in-depth study to find a design solution to solve
1“IRCTC launches ticket booking app for Android” Anupam Saxena, TOI Tech | Oct 14, 2014, 03.38PM IST
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Travelling with the Digital Revolution, May 2015
the problem. The intention is to create a user centric design solution so as to satisfy
the user and increase user engagement.
1.3Objective
The objective of the research is to study the existing mobile applications of the Indian
Railways and study the problems faced by the user while using these applications.
Also the objective is to find a design solution that will help solve the user’s problem.
The research also intends to serve as an important study from the user perspective
for the Indian Railways to help improve the Passenger services.
1.4Significance
The findings of this study will redound to the benefit of the society considering that
Indian Railways’ technological development plays an important role in today’s rapidly
advancing techno world. The greater demand for such mobile technologies justifies
the need for more effective mobile applications providing authentic information. Also
the effect of multiple platforms on decision making and the end results of using the
applications further will put light on the problem of no control web based launching.
The research may also benefit the Railway government to know the problems from a
user’s perspective which will help develop newer facilities for passenger services. For
the researcher, the study will help them find newer solutions in a creative way to solve
the problems of the users. Thus creating a better platform for users to engage with
Indian Railways.
1.5 Research Statement
The Indian Rail Government aims at developing world class facilities by 2020 for Indian
Railways and has developed in various areas of passenger services since last decade.
Mobility being a new trend, innumerable mobile applications related to Indian Railways
are being developed and added to the list each day. This research is inclined towards
studying the different applications and their performances and studying the problems
from the user’s point of view. The research also focuses on the trend research and
analysis in technology to study the latest developments as well as predicted future of
technology that is likely to affect the Indian Railways in various different ways.
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1.6 Limitations
The research is inclined towards Indian Railways’ developments for Passenger
Services. One of the major limitation is the lack of support and information from the
Indian Rail Government. Apart from the documents released by the government every
year, there are no other sources of information that may help in studying the status
and situations from the Indian Railways point of view. Collecting information from
Railway’s point of view is necessary to know what developments are possible and why
they have not been done. Many such questions that only Railway personnel’s can
answer are not answered through other sources of information and thus a limitation is
seen in the collection of data.
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Chapter 2
Review of literature 0000000
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2.1 Evolution of Indian Railways Passenger Services.
The demand for safe, fast, and reliable rail services continues to be the reason for
concern in all the countries across the globe. Lack of operational efficiency and
reliability, safety and security issues, and aging railway systems and practices are
haunting various countries to bring about a change in their existing rail infrastructure.
India with a huge railway system and rapidly growing number of consumers is getting
into the race of fast development with the digital revolution. Railways are not only
related to long distant journeys but they also have the systems of Local trains in
Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad and other big cities along with the privately run Metro
trains of Delhi and Monorails in Mumbai. These system of railways connect almost all
the parts of the city making commuting easy for the citizens. Apart from just
connectivity there are other activities that make the travelling by railways more
interactive. Ticketing and booking is the most important activity followed by checking
the confirmation status, train running status and cancellations. Various other facilities
for local railways also run in terms of quick ticketing and renewing passes. The regular
passengers have facilities like monthly passes and other ticket systems. There are
Automatic Ticket Vending Machines and Coupon Vending Machines for Mumbai local
train services and these were the smart designs made but unfortunately they did not
do well and ultimately ended up being ATVM window where a station in-charge has to
operate the machines themselves. Railways in the 162 years of its service, has
developed its passenger services from providing reservation system to toilets, drinking
water and so many amenities. Booking railway tickets in India involves significant
effort at every step of the process for almost all the travelers; especially in bigger
cities; where one has to stand in long queues to book a ticket. With portals like IRCTC
and other sites linked with the same, ticket booking and tracking the train is still not
that easy. Findings suggest that most of the people who can book online do not
prefer doing so because of the loading problem with website or because a lot of time
is wasted in booking the same. Especially with the booking of the Tatkal Ticket the
problems are seen more and so are the queues. It is not only about booking tickets
but also tracking the train when it is late, finding availability in other trains while your
preferred train gets full and you are still in the queue, etc. Most times when people
are waiting at station to board the train and it is running late by hours, tracking
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system at station itself should be made available for people to track their trains.
There are other activities like display of information and digital advertising which can
also be concentrated upon to create a new trend in marketing with the digital media
available. But the development of the self-booking facility through internet for seat
reservation has changed the booking scenario for Indian Railways not only in terms of
lowering the burden on the staff, but most importantly in terms of the business
generated through it. The rapid growth of the Internet over the past two decades as a
platform for buyer - seller interaction is indicative of the degree of growing acceptance
of online buying transactions worldwide. Despite the slowing penetration of regular
Internet users, the number of consumers using the Internet for ticketing is rapidly
growing. But with so many frauds happening around in India, people do not trust
authentic sites to book tickets and hence do not use their banking details. Along with
e-ticketing, the other aspects like train schedules, train running information, list of all
the trains and so many others, digital revolution is making all of this easy to access.
But less have we thought about the people who trust the information only if it comes
from the Railways directly. And it is almost all the time that there is no one to answer
all your queries and then made to run from one window to another. Thus all the
information when is made available on your mobile phones with innumerable
applications the only problem that user faces which application is best for his problem.
With the consumer being technology savvy each day, Railways support such
technological advancements to help its consumers.
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Diagram 1. Mindmap of digital development of passenger
Services in Indian Railways
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The different facilities that Railways provide in India are innumerable. Right from food
on the run to the Electric Sockets for charging devices for the travelers to facilities like
e-ticketing and online enquiry, Railways have covered almost all the solution to the
problems of the consumers. But even after so many efforts, the Indian Consumer’s
psychology towards all the facilities is not very welcoming. For instance with the online
booking facility through IRCTC’s portal is not used by a lot of people as they don’t want
to trust the portal on the banking side or they think that if it is not booked from the
station, it is not authentic. To cater to such consumers IRCTC will be bringing in the
facility of cash on delivery COD and other similar amenities.
Recent trends of online buying mode of railway tickets for long distance tours or
travels show a paradigm shift from the traditional booking pattern through the railway
reservation counters. In India, the process and formalities of online transactions are
still perceived by the majority of members as complex, uncomfortable, and a
secondary option to the traditional purchase process. In such a scenario, the online
reservation of railway tickets requires the authority to devise strategies based on
sound consumer behavioral research and knowledge of customer convenience
management. With the increasing level of competition from the low – cost airlines and
road transport options, Indian railway authority need to comprehensively understand
the user expectations of online reservation and re-evaluate the facility of their online
reservation strategies. 2
2
International Journal of Business, Management and Social Sciences Vol. 1, No. 1, 2010, pp. 9-20 Consumer “personality” in railway e-
ticketing: conceptualization and empirical testing in Indian context Sangeeta Sahney1*, Koustab Ghosh2 and Archana Shrivastava3
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Travelling with the Digital Revolution, May 2015 Diagram 2. Evolution of passenger services in Indian Railways Master of Design Page | 18
Travelling with the Digital Revolution, May 2015
2.2 Mobility trend of travel n tour industry in India:
Mobile is an unstoppable force that’s set to transform the traveler experience. In a
mature industry such as Travel and Tourism, it is crucial to combine a seamless
customer experience and loyalty program with the ability to differentiate. Mobile
services give this industry new opportunities to achieve both. Furthermore, whilst
mobile is not widely used for revenue generation today, the channel is undoubtedly
the most intimate and flexible way to interact with a customer, offering the ability to
deliver tailored offers at any stage of the travel process.
Travel industry has been experimenting with mobile services over the previous few
years and a number of basic services are now industrialized – delivering benefits to
travelers today.
But it is the next five years that offer the greatest opportunity.
Increasing numbers of travelers are connected as the number of mobile phones has
outstripped the world’s population. Travelers are now empowered with advanced
smartphones able to deliver new functionality related to location, payments and real-
time information flows. What’s for certain is that mobile will be used to enhance the
travel experience. The question is who will be center stage in the revolution? A plethora
of players are seeking to supply services to consumers through mobile - from
application developers to global internet giants. Thinking of the customer relationship,
Railways are in prime position to enhance their customers’ experience and drive
greater revenue, but the industry must first understand the future landscape.
A mobile phone has become a standard accessory for all travelers. Passengers rely
on mobile technology for instant information and connections to their social network.
Indian Railways continue to introduce mobile capabilities to improve passenger
processing and information flow. Globally a set of standard functions have emerged
for Railway mobile applications.
The following image shows how globally tourism industry is dependent on mobile
technology for attracting the customers. The global tourism market has reached to the
point where one needs to make a mobile presence to attract the customers towards
picking up the deals. Best can be done through the mobile technology as it is more
handy than any any other deveices and information can be seen at any point of time.
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00
Image 1. Infograph of the effect of mobile technology in travel industry.
(source: http://www.timetoast.com)
In India travel and tourism industry was expected to grow by 7.3 per cent in 2014,
outperforming the general economy by 2.5 percentage points, said The World Travel
and Tourism Council (WTTC) in its annual economic impact report. In a country which
has the world’s third largest number of internet users (after China and the US) and
third largest Facebook users (after the US and Brazil), online booking of travel plans
have become more convenient now. 3 In the past 4 years, India has seen remarkable
growth in the consumers of smartphones. It went up from 51 million in 2013 to 104
3
“The big picture of online travel space in India that is set to get bigger” Alok Soni and Arjun Mehra | TOI July 22, 2014 at 8:30 am
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million in 2014.4 An estimated growth of 200 million users is expected by the end of
2016.This growth is not only indicative of the technological advancement of the country
but also is the game changer for many businesses. As far as Travel and Tourism
industry in India is considered, a large number of people use mobile to plan their travel.
Online businesses has solved the issue of inconvenience in travel planning as it caters
the user with all the required information that is required to make bookings. It is the
same across the e-commerce industry and hence ‘convenience’ is the single most
important factor responsible for achieving a whopping 88% growth in the Indian e-
commerce industry in 2013 to reach $16 billion. This is again mainly dominated by the
travel segment which accounts for more than 70% of the transactions in the industry.
Apart from the online travel agencies, one of the biggest surprises is the Indian
Railways Catering and tourism corporation (IRCTC). With around 2 million people
travelling each day with reservations and another 6million travelling with unreserved
tickets, mobility has bought a huge change in the system of railways for passengers.
From difficulties of queues at booking offices to booking from your personal computers,
convenience has made it easier to opt for railways by millions of people. Mobile travel
planning is hottest trend for 2015-2016 where the number of mobile planning is
expected to increase from 7.3% to 12% in the coming two years. Apart from the flight
and bus bookings, railways, hotels, cabs, etc. will be leading the board for gross sales
per year soon. Travel industry makes around 70% of the total businesses done over a
mobile phone. Thus mobility is a trend followed by users at a greater extent as it is the
most convenient way to plan travels.
2.2.1 The present day standards of Mobility
Railways have recognized the opportunity to use mobile technology to improve
passenger efficiency and as a communication tool during times of service disruption.
Most Railways across world have done the basics which include mobile check-in, 2D
bar code boarding passes (PNR number for India) and itinerary management. Almost
all Railways across world have mobile booking capability today and most will be
adding it over the next 12 months. In developing markets such as India where the
primary connection to the Internet is the mobile device, the entire travel booking
4
Deloitte’s Telecom , Media and technology predictions 2015, January 30, 2015
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process may take place on the mobile phone5. Today, Railways across the globe also
use SMS as a means to provide information to travelers particularly in times of service
disruptions. These may simply be messages which notify the passenger that the train
is delayed or those which offer alternatives when a train is cancelled. The researches
uncovered that these standard functions are no longer a differentiating factor for the
railways, but are a necessity in order to remain competitive.
Under consideration 3-5 years
This study classifies advanced functionality into two major categories:
1. Functions related to the passenger experience and
2. Capabilities that take advantage of advanced mobile device or software features.
The first category focuses on capabilities and products and services that help enhance
the trip. The second category takes advantage of general mobile trends that will
emerge over the next 3-5 years.
Functions related to the passenger experience include:
Location based services – These are services that provide location sensitive
advertisements promoting airport or local merchants as well as local information
guides (e.g. airport, gates, baggage carousels, etc.).
Advanced disruption management – This includes the pushing of alternate
flights and the offer of personalized compensation and electronic vouchers for
hotels when a flight is cancelled.
Social media – Monitoring social media comments and targeting the
passenger’s physical location to prioritize assistance based on the nature of the
issue. Also being considered is the integration of peer reviews during the mobile
ticket purchasing process.
Movement tracking – Depending on local cultural and legal restrictions,
automatically identifying a passenger’s location in the airport.
Advanced push notifications – This has two main purposes, providing the
passenger with more information about their flight or baggage and selling
ancillary services to monetize the mobile channel.
5
The always-connected traveller: How mobile will transform the future of rail travel; Travel Tech Consulting; 2014, USA.
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Mobile devices are increasingly becoming electronic wallets and sensors to the world
around us. Two important advanced mobile device capabilities that will enable new
services for airlines are:
Mobile payments – The adoption of universal mobile payment systems will
allow the passenger to use their phone to pay for goods and services.
NFC – The integration of near field communication (NFC) technology into the
handset. NFC involves two pieces of hardware. One is an NFC chip in a mobile
phone and the other is an NFC reader at a merchant or transportation facility.
NFC will allow the passenger to speed through the airport check-in and
boarding process.6
2.2.2The Native App Platform
A major challenge for all companies developing native apps is to target the platform
that will best match their customer requirements. There are a variety of choices for
native app development, but the primary focus for railways has been the Apple iPhone,
the Google Android and Microsoft windows (Symbian) platforms. Despite the growth
of smartphones worldwide, the majority of global mobile phone owners still use full
feature phones. Railways view the mobile web as the way to reach these full feature
phone users, but there is also an opportunity to provide full feature phone users with
a downloadable app written in Java. This is a similar strategy deployed by Facebook
and LinkedIn who have both created downloadable Java apps for full feature phones.
Since these types of phones do not have an independent operating system (OS) the
downloadable function would require working with the individual wireless carrier to
include the app on their deck of downloadable software for full feature phones.
2.2.3 Role of third party developers
Railways work with a variety of third party developers who help create and deploy
mobile applications. These third parties fall into four groupings:
1. Small – midsized mobile generalists
2. Travel mobile specialists
3. Large system integrators
6
The always-connected traveller: How mobile will transform the future of rail travel; Travel Tech Consulting; 2014, USA.
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4. PSS/DCS providers
Smaller mobile generalists are often local companies that provide mobile web re-
design or app development for a variety of industries. Some airlines work with mobile
travel specialists who only work within the travel industry. Larger system integrators
are often employed to connect the mobile apps to the airline’s infrastructure.
Increasingly Passenger Service System (PSS) vendors, Departure Control System
(DCS) companies or suppliers are contracted to provide the railways’ mobile solution
as any successful mobile application must work with these internal operational
systems. Work is often spread across these third party categories dependent on the
specific expertise required and in-house resources are generally used for overall
design consistency and strategic direction.
Mobile technology promises to transform the travel experience. The always-connected
traveler will expect and demand information and services that simplify the planning,
booking and overall rail travelling experience. Investment in mobile technology is
critical to help railways differentiate their services and drive incremental revenue.
2.3 Case studies
2.3.1 Make My Trip (makemytrip.com)
MMT was launched in the US in 2000 to cater to the niche US-to-India travel market.
The company survived the dotcom bust and the 9/11 tragedy and was able to
breakeven in 2002. The website emerged as the foremost online travel service
provider in the US-to-India market.
Challenges in the initial days
MakeMyTrip was started in 2000 in a much less tech-savvy era. Accordingly the
challenges faced by the organisation in the initial days were different to what Yatra or
Cleartrip (found in 2006) had faced. Mohit Gupta, Chief Business Officer, Holidays, at
MakeMyTrip, shares some of those as follows:
1. Consumer acceptance: People in India were unsure of how to use such
a platform and how it would work. They preferred to do things in person.
2. Airline’s trust: Airlines were also wary of new age travel agents since they
weren’t aware of how they would perform.
3. Industry practices: Paper tickets had to be printed and delivered; the
concept of e-tickets was still not prevalent.
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4. Tech infrastructure: Real-time loading and integration of the flight plans
onto a platform had challenges due to limited technology infrastructure that
restricts smooth functionality.7
MMT introduced the mobile applications on android and iOS platforms in July 2012
recognizing the potential smartphone users and travelers. Today it offers apps across
iOS, Android and Windows platforms that enable booking of air travel, hotels, bus and
train reservations as well as other geo-targeted travel services. The MakeMyTrip
mobile app has received 2.4 million downloads to date. Mobile is a key growth channel
– 20% of the site visitors are currently contributed by mobile and around 10-15% of
domestic flights and nearly 25% of hotels are booked via mobile. Amongst mobile
bookings, more than a quarter consist of new customers who have never before
transacted with MakeMyTrip. The implication is that MakeMyTrip’s mobile technology
has introduced these emerging customers to the travel market.
Image 2. MMT advertisement for mobile app.
(source: http://www.makemytrip.com)
7
“The big picture of online travel space in India that is set to get bigger” Alok Soni and Arjun Mehra | TOI July 22, 2014 at 8:30 am
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Value Propositions Anticipated Outcomes
Empowering the travelers with rich Redefining travel products distribution
information network
Offering travel superstore: buy multiple Building efficiency in sales and
products across multiple brands distribution to pass on benefits to the
customer
Providing opportunity for instant Providing technology that brings about
booking with real time purchase of all convenience between offline and online
travel products, tickets delivered at processes
doorstep
Ensuring transparency and reliability Enhancing the reach of the travel and
tourism market to remote locations
Ensuring convenience of buying anytime Tension-free travel-related product
and anywhere buying
Offering 24x7 customer service Hassle free service experince
Table 1. value propostition & outcome of MMT.
(source: http://www.traveltrends.com)
2.3.2 ATVM – Mumbai
Automatic Ticket Vending Machines (ATVM) were introduced by Indian Railways to
reduce passengers queuing up at the ticket counters at Railway stations. ATVMs are
touch screen based ticketing kiosks operated using Smart Cards. The passengers can
purchase and recharge Smart Cards from ticket counters. The Smart Card has to be
placed on a slot in the ATVM and user has to select the route and destination using
the touchscreen. After confirming the details, the ticket is printed and delivered. Once
the ticket is issued, charge is debited from the smart card. The interface and the
enabling software include a graphic display of route maps as well as trilingual menu
options. It is cashless, convenient and a service that is available round the clock.
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Thinvent has developed rugged hardware and a stable Linux based firmware to power
the Automatic Ticket Vending Machines. Thinvent’s ATVM thin clients are rugged
computers based on technology developed from the ground up to be usable in harsh
Indian conditions.
The equipment withstand heavy usage 24 hours a day, 365 days an year.
The equipment is expected to withstand dust, heat, user ignorance, and lack of good
power, at some of the remotest locations across the country.
Reliable and good quality printing is needed to counter counterfeiting.
Machines need to be reliable and secure.
Supports the Indian Railways application and backend for ticketing.
Supports Smart Card Reader, Touch Screen Calibration Utility
Supports all Indian languages.
The ATVM machines were installed at Mumbai suburban train stations on 10th
October, 2010. They were bought into practice to reduce the queues for ticketing and
make it easier for the passenger to manage the time. Another important reason was
to overcome the problem of exchange of change at ticket counters. Due to the use of
smart card, the problem of exchanging coins is reduced. Some of the other facts and
figures about ATVM machines are as follows:
Out of about 1 million daily ticket buyer local train travelers, 13 to 15 percent of
them use this smart cards.
Total ATVM Machines installed at Mumbai (Western & Central Railway)
Suburbs are 250.
New 135 Such Machines will be installed in Central Railway, Out of which 86 to
be installed on Main Line, 43 on Harbour Route and 6 at Trans-Harbour lines.
Major stations like Thane, CST, Kalyan and Vashi commuters getting relief from
long queues to get tickets.
Another 940 such Ticket Vending Machines are expected by March 2013.
As per news in July 2014, 377 more of such Machines are expected in Mumbai
suburb stations (western & Central Railway)
Coin Operated ATVM are expected soon as per news.
ATVM machines did not get that much of response as expected because not all
commuters found it easy to operate, the touch screen getting little touch
insensitive with time and understanding the START and END route was initially
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not easy. Basically the user interface can be made easier. But with time many
people got use to using this machine.
Smart Cards once lost can be used by any person, so adding on full recharge
of Rs.500 can sometime be risky.
Total of 40 Lakh commuters daily commute on Central Railway route via local
trains.
The AVTM users have increased from 5% during 2011 to 25% now in 2013. Till
date total of 386 ATVMs are operating and Railway plans to add more 286 soon
possibly in early 2014.8
ATVM machines did not work as well as it should have been because of numerous
reasons. While placing such kiosks, one has to keep in mind that the travelers are
diverse group of people. From different economic groups to diverse educational
qualifications, not all travelers will be comfortable in operating such machines. Also
the complex rail maps made it even more difficult for users to find their way and book
tickets. Thus ATVM installation did not turn out to be a complete success but it
definitely helped in reducing the loads of queues on ticket counters.
Year No. of Stations No. of ATVM’s Passengers who use ATVM’s
2010 08 16 1200
2011 14 22 4500
2012 26 45 9250
2013 26 67 12000
Table 2. ATVM machines at Mumbai suburban train stations.
(source: http://www.timesnow.com)
Image 3. Unused ATVM machines (source: www.timesnow.com)
8
ATVM For Mumbai Local Trains – Local Train Ticket Smart Card Machine (Modified on January 4th, 2015 at 10:47 am )
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2.3.3 Expedia
In a little more than a decade, the worldwide online travel marketplace has grown
substantially, and now represents a significant percentage of all travel sales. At the
same time, consumers remain concerned about the security of online transactions,
and the confidentiality of their personal and financial data transmitted online.
Expedia is one of the world’s leading online travel and hospitality companies, operating
more than 150 travel booking sites in more than 70 countries. Company executives
recognized that consumer concerns about the security of personal data, particularly
about providing confidential credit card data through Expedia’s websites, could affect
the online travel category and the company’s prospects for growth.
Image 4 the Expedia Logo (source: http://www.expedia.com)
“When we began, the Internet was quite new, and security was a huge concern,”
according to Christian Gruenthal, Expedia’s Senior Manager, e-Commerce and
Product, for Germany and Austria. “This was especially true among customers in
Germany and other parts of the European Union, where credit card use was not as
common as in the U.S. We needed a way to communicate to our customers that their
personal data would remain safe and secure when booking their travel arrangements
online.”9
TÜV SÜD’s S@fer Shopping Certification process provides a thorough and systematic
assessment of the performance and security of a retailer’s website.
As clarity of information and customer protection is a clear priority for the business,
Expedia partnered with TÜV SÜD to evaluate the company’s German website as part
of a broader effort to improve website security and usability. The evaluation included
an assessment of the website’s structure and navigation, as well as the site’s online
order entry process. Reviewers also examined Expedia’s policies and procedures
9
TÜV SÜD AG Westendstraße 199, Munich, Germany systemcertification@tuv-sud.com
Master of Design Page | 29Travelling with the Digital Revolution, May 2015
regarding the protection of consumer data, as well as the systems to ensure the quality
and integrity of the online shopping experience.
Expedia’s German website was the first online travel site in Germany to be awarded
TÜV SÜD’s S@fer Shopping Certification in 2001, which was followed by the
subsequent certification of Expedia’s Austrian website. The company maintains its
S@fer Shopping Certifications through remote surveillance, and through an annual
on-site audit at Expedia’s offices in London, UK.
Image 5 the Safer shopping Logo (source: http://www.expedia.com)
Expedia.com has been delivering their service travelers since 1996. The company has
grown with the web, constantly adding new features and trying new things as more
and more users took their planning and purchases online. Expedia is one of the travel
company everybody knows, either from being customers or living with their
commercials for the last 15 years. Their web presence has grown to be truly significant
as a result of such heavy marketing and reacting to trends on the web. Soon you’ll see
that same dedication head to their mobile products.
Developing for mobile is not as simple as flipping a switch anymore. For a service as
big as Expedia, you can’t just pick one (or even two) platform and just focus on those.
According to Kim, Expedia believes that the right path is to focus on first making their
web presence as functional as possible on as many screens as possible, and then
approaching the mobile space slowly. The Expedia app didn’t start out as a mirror of
Master of Design Page | 30Travelling with the Digital Revolution, May 2015
the features on their websites, nor did it start out as a weak web clone, simply made
for the sake of putting their logo on your homescreen10.
Expedia’s iOS, Android, and Windows phone apps started out including just flights,
and grew with their user base. Assigning developers to iOS and Android teams were
based on the number of users, and the features for those apps grew as they were
ready. Today, the iOS and Android variants of these apps allow for flights, hotels, and
itinerary functions that create an experience you can’t easily recreate using just a web
app. The application of balance in development, the creation of a seamless workflow,
and the implementation of a responsive design on their web and mobile experience is
an incredible dance to perform. Expedia’s mobile development process is
accomplished by implementing their lessons learned from years of web development
and a dedication to paying attention to what their users are asking for.
Image 6. the Expedia mobile app (source: http://www.google.playstore.com)
2.3.4 IRCTC
Launched in 2002, Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC)
www.irctc.co.in had booked merely 27 tickets on the first day of its commencement of
e- ticketing service in the country. Now after 9 years of sparkling journey, it has
emerged as a largest in the country with more than 4 lakhs booking per day in terms
10
How Expedia turned their web expertise into mobile success By Russell Holly Aug. 9, 2013 10:00 am
Master of Design Page | 31Travelling with the Digital Revolution, May 2015
of online ticketing, leaving behind several high-profile e-commerce sites
worldwide. IRCTC website comprises 45% of all visitors to travel websites in India and
19% of total Internet audience.
IRCTC’s rapid growth in e-ticketing has been due to its interface and a very robust
process set up for doing e-reservation which facilitates bookings for all types of credit
cards, most major debit cards, cash cards facility and Net Banking facility. IRCTC
ticketing services have continued to go from strength to strength ever since it came
into the markets. It is handling over 40% of the reserved train accommodation of Indian
Railways. Right after 2002, IRCTC has seen the number of tickets booked online
double. And like the perfect start-up, IRCTC relied only on word-of-mouth publicity. In
2002 the number of tickets getting booked was 27,000 per day and in 2008 it went up
to 40,000.
After 2008 it took a big jump. Number of tickets booked through IRCTC website during
the year 2010-ll has gone up to 9.69 crore tickets as against 7.20 crore tickets booked
during 2009-10. All the major banks in the country offered tie-ups by making available
a link to their Internet banking system, which would allow purchase of railway tickets
from IRCTC. It has come out as the fastest growing e-commerce site in the whole of
the Asia-Pacific region in terms of online money transactions with online ticket selling
around Rs. 10 crore a month.
2.3.4 A Factors that contributed to the success of IRCTC
The IRCTC success story is undoubtedly an inspiration for the entire generation of e-
commerce portals in India. However, behind this success story is a firmed up business
plan as well as a near flawless execution till the recent past. Here are some of the
reasons why IRCTC became a favorite of train travelers in India.
1] Economical – In 2002, online booking was a new concept in India, majority of the
populations were in awe of it. People in not just tier 2 and 3 towns were in for the shock
of their lives to see tickets neatly tucked in envelopes for low service charge. (At Rs.
10/- per person for a booking of a family of 5, even the relatively lower classes did not
mind paying for the convenience of tickets being delivered at the doorstep.) IRCTC
hits the chord with its economical accessibility.
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2] Quick and efficient connectivity – It is notable to add that IRCTC’s policy of
awarding the delivery contract to only one courier company has been a masterstroke.
It gives more control to IRCTC over delivery, with just a single channel of
communication to take care of. The delivery happens within 24 hours in Delhi and
Mumbai where tickets are printed. For other parts of the country, the upper limit is
three days. At present, e- tickets Tickets are delivered in 102 cities across the country.
Delhi and Mumbai account for the largest share of ticket sales (40 per cent each), and
Chennai and Bangalore come next. One of the IRCTC e-selling tickets in places such
as Silvasa, Banaras, Ranchi, Vapi and many other small towns.
3] Easy to navigate and user friendly web interface – The website lays down all
possible options, allows one to customize his or her train options based on start and
end stations, desired dates, routes and possible fare classes. The interface also allows
one to keep a record of all past bookings, cancellations and upcoming trips. To provide
a simple, easy to use interface that can support more than 40,000 unique visitors
during peak hours and ensuring that every single ticket reaches the consumer in
remote locations across the country is something that keeps them at top. Besides it
offers the highly secure payment gateways with more than ten options of using credit
and debit cards without any hassles.
4] Concerns
IRCTC website, in its current state, will be challenged by millions of users, which is
increasing day by day. About 40% of these are booked during the morning hours
(Primarily between 8 AM – 10 AM) so traffic would major concerns for IRCTC. In Jan
2011 alone, there were more than 2.9 million failed transactions translating to a
humungous 25% fail rate. To add to the woes, failed login attempts and other request
failures only goes to show that it is yet achieve its perfection. IRCTC, over the years,
has been receiving several complaints of malpractices. It recently deactivated IDs of
1.4 million users suspected to be indulging in such practices.
Setting up of the commercial portal is also one of the major concerns for IRCTC. The
commercial portal of Indian Railways was launched on 08.07.2011with lower service
charges. This portal has the facility for booking of Rail e-tickets also similar to IRCTC
website. The operation of commercial portal was suspended on 22.07.2011 due to
problems in payment settlement system. Without doubt it will be essential and major
Master of Design Page | 33Travelling with the Digital Revolution, May 2015
concern for keeping the trust of the consumers- IRCTC will look to modernize its IT
infrastructure with setting up of disaster management site.
According to the IRCTC chairman, Rakesh Kumar Tondon, IRCTC aims to become a
Rs. 2500 crore company by FY’I5. We are aiming high especially keeping in view of
the fact that the turnover target for FY’I2 is only Rs. 500 crore, much lower than Rs.
765 crore achieved during the current year. Our focus is mainly on consolidating the
e-ticketing in the country. And now IRCTC is also spreading its wing with flight, hotel
and cab booking as well as booking packages; IRCTC may well become a competitor
to the more established travel portals like Cleartrip, Makemytrip, Yatra and Easycab in
near future.
Image 7 the IRCTC windows app (source: http://www.gadgetguru.com)
.
Master of Design Page | 34Travelling with the Digital Revolution, May 2015
2.3.5 Conclusion from the case studies
From the case studies mentioned before, it is clear that the travel and tourism industry
is developing more on the digital platforms. From providing basic self- booking facility
at railway station, to the internet world of planning and purchase, travel industry has
stood up to all the expectations of a traveller. The shift from traditional planning to the
new online planning has visibly increased the interest of travellers across globe. This
increased interest has not only generated revenues higher than before, but has also
bought into limelight the user expectations and engagement. The experience that the
user goes through while planning and purchasing brings him back again and again.
This coming back requires engagement and interest generation which the travel
companies have to highlight on. With mobility as the trend, directing digital platforms
towards the smartphone is the biggest challenge in the plethora of areas to focus on
from business and user perspective equally.
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Chapter 3
Research method
0000000
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3.1 Research Design
Diagram 3. Research design
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3.2 Research Methodology
The objective of this research as mentioned in 1.3 is to study the mobility trend in travel
industry by studying the mobile applications related to Indian Railways and
understanding the problems faced by the user. Such study requires a more qualitative
approach than the quantitative ones. The user centric problems can be noted by a
quantity of people using the product but that quantity cannot be generalized due to the
tailored facilities that people are used to.
This objective clearly mentions an experiential approach towards data collection. Thus
all the existing mobile application on the Android platform were used to understand
various functions performed by these applications and the experience that the user
goes through while using them. A total of 274 mobile applications were used and the
results and comments were noted. These applications were also compared on the
basis of the operations performed by each one (most of which were repetitive hence
easy to compare). The results of this usability test were noted to mark the apps on
basis of rating, number of users, performance, visual appeal and user satisfaction.
Image 8. the Analysis table (source: self clicked)
The usability test gives results related to each particular application. But with so many
apps performing numerous functions, it is necessary to know what are other problems
faced by the user.
To know in general what are the problems faced by the users while using the digital
platforms, a questionnaire was distributed at various railway stations in different cities.
The cities where this survey was taken were Mumbai, Navi-Mumbai, Nashik and
Jalgaon all in the state of Maharashtra. Reason behind selection of only these cities
was the diverse nature of all of these cities. Mumbai being more tech savvy across all
age groups, Navi- Mumbai has a mixed crowd from different economic backgrounds
Master of Design Page | 38Travelling with the Digital Revolution, May 2015
and Nashik and Jalgaon are relatively more biased towards traditional methods of
travel planning and booking.
There is always a need of expert advices when it comes to data collection for a project
which will have large number of end users. Thus informal interviews were conducted
with experts from the fields of Railways, Interaction design, etc.
Data collection from the comments of the users and developers on various websites,
google Playstore, blogs and articles was done in order to know the demands of the
users and the reasons behind not developing the demanded facilities. Also the
comments and discussions highlighted on the flaws of the existing platforms and why
many of them fail to satisfy the users.
Master of Design Page | 39Travelling with the Digital Revolution, May 2015
Chapter 4
Data Analysis
0000000
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4.1 Aim & Objective
The data collection from the primary and secondary research provides sufficient
knowledge about the evolution of digital platform for travel and tourism Industry across
the globe and the techno trend of mobility and its impact on travel business. The
information collected will lead to analysis of the impact of digital revolution on the
Indian Railways as well as the user engagement leading to revenue generation.
4.2 Phase -1
The first phase of research was a collection of secondary data related to the
development of the Indian Railways passenger services. Various articles and reports
were read in order to get information about the development done by the Indian
railways.
4.2.1 Smart Card for Ticket Booking
As a pilot project, Railway Minister Sadananda Gowda launched the ‘Go India’ smart
card system at six stations on Delhi-Howrah Sector. With the use of this smart card,
passenger can reduce the time consumed for ticket booking at ticket counters for
reserved or unreserved tickets.11 There will be ATVM kiosks installed for using the
smart card system. One can book a ticket from a price value of Rs. 5 to Rs. 5000.
But after seeing the response towards the ATVM kiosks for Mumbai suburban train
ticketing, it is difficult to predict how successful this initiative will be. The smart card
concept in Mumbai worked for only 11% people out of more than 1 million passengers
travelling daily by the Mumbai local trains. But there is a possibility that when such
facilities are installed at more stations, people will find it more convenient to make
complete use of such facility as they get more acquainted to the machines. It is
possibly the fear of operating new machines that is leading to failure of smart card
facility.
Also to go deeper into spotting problems with ATVM smart card systems, the fear of
losing the fully recharged smart card is more often the reason for not using it. The
11 Railways launches 'Go India' smart card for train journeys | Aug 14, 2014, 05.12PM IST | Times of India
Master of Design Page | 41Travelling with the Digital Revolution, May 2015
smart card doesn’t have any pin or password. Thus if any individual finds a smart card
he can use it to buy the ticket and would not bother to return it back to the owner.
Thus making Go India a successful project is a task that Indian Railway government
has to think about more seriously.
Image 9. GO Indian Smart card (source: http://railduniya.com)
4.2.2 E-ticketing facility for differently abled persons
The CRIS reported in December 2014 about the special cards for differently abled
persons.12 This card carries information about the cardholder in terms of the name,
age, disability, concessions provided for the passenger, etc. the unique number of the
card will not only be used to book e-ticket but the person can use the card for booking
at ticket counters too. The procedures for getting the card are yet to be decided but
his is definitely going to help the differently able population of the country as it will
make booking easier for them.
4.2.3 Indian Railways Modernization Plans for 2020
Indian Railway plans to make bullet trains available in India from 2020. With such a
huge development plan, passenger services at stations are also needed to be
developed. Thus government planned on making 10 major stations of the international
standards that will have all the amenities a modern railway station is sure to have in
future. The development will be more in terms of digital development providing
facilities that are self-operational, and digitized in most aspects of operation. Even the
complete infrastructure will be designed to suit the future developments of the railways
in India.
12 E-ticketing facility for differently abled persons | DEC 13, 2014 | NITI PTI BOT
Master of Design Page | 42Travelling with the Digital Revolution, May 2015
One of the most amazing examples of the development of stations is the Seawoods
Station project in Navi Mumbai that is undertaken by L&T for development. This station
will be developed as a combination of railway station – shopping mall – business
centre. The project is estimated to be developed by 2017 and will be functioning fully
from 2018-2019 in terms of the business centre and shopping mall.
Image 10. Design of Seawoods Station, Navi Mumbai
(source: http://www.l&t.com/projectseawoods)
Master of Design Page | 43Travelling with the Digital Revolution, May 2015
4.3 Phase – 2
The second phase of the research included taking informal interviews and talks with
few of the experienced people in the field of Railways and digital development for
Railways.
4.3.1 Interview -1
Name: Mr. Rakesh Tondon
Designation: Managing Director
Company: IRCTC, New Delhi.
Means of Interview: Telephonic Interview
Date: 20th February 2015
Time: 12:45 pm to 1:20 pm
Mr Tondon shared his experiences of development of the IRCTC website and mobile
application and how the whole process was developed in order to find the loopholes.
The discussion was more about understanding how IRCTC web portal works and why
there are so many problems related to it.
On asking the reasons for the problems faced by the user, Mr. Tondon answered as
“the IRCTC portal was designed to handle a particular number of users at a time, but
seeing the boost of e-commerce and people adopting the internet at such a rapid
speed, IRCTC apparently worked slower and caused much more problem especially
during the Tatkal booking hours in the morning.” Further he added “the site has been
developed recently to welcome more than 20,000 users at a time with around 7,200
bookings per minute. We know that even this is going to create problems looking at
the growth in the number of travelers each day.”
Further when asked about the not very appealing interface design and the irritating
ads all over the website he replied saying, “we believe in providing service that will
perform well and it does not really matter if it looks well or not as long as the information
is provided in a manner which is understood by all. The information we provide is more
sorted for any user to understand. And about the advertisements all over the home
page, I admit it is irritating but that is a means of earning extra money which we could
use to develop the portal in better ways.”
Further he explained how exactly the IRCTC website project was started and why it
has been a major hit in terms of generating revenue. He explains, “After the launch of
IRCTC in 2002, it contributed 7% to the total revenue generated by the railways from
ticket booking. And in the 2nd year it generated 13% of the total revenue. Currently in
Master of Design Page | 44Travelling with the Digital Revolution, May 2015
2014, IRCTC contributed about 57% of the total revenue which is higher than the
Railway bookings from counters. Thus the even after facing so many challenges, the
success of IRCTC can be seen through the business generated. Also the development
of the portal is a continuous process and most of the development happening in the
backend is not visible to the users. But soon we are planning on improving the visual
appeal of the website that will attract more consumers towards online booking and
reduce the load from the railway counters.”
4.3.2 Interview- 2
Name: Mr. Manan Gupta
Designation: Freelance Developer
Means of Interview: Telephonic
Date: 8th march, 2015
Time: 12:00 pm to 12:45 pm
Mr. Gupta is the developer of the application Train Running Status, which shows the
current running status of the Indian railways i.e. it displays the last station where the
train was and the estimated time of arrival of train at next station. Mr. Gupta says,
“According to me, an application needs to perform in order to satisfy its user in all
possible ways. Thus my application has only one function that is of displaying the train
running status. It is easy for the user to track the train and the application works
perfectly well with slow internet connection. We have a non-restricted web launching
platform, but most of the developers try to put all the possible features in their
application, which affects the performance of the application as well as the user’s
smartphone causing unsatisfactory views for the application. The developers need to
understand that minimum features equals to maximum performance. In India where
people have access to 2G internet, it is difficult to load applications online. Even offline
services sometimes fails with such weak networks. Thus the developer need to
develop applications that will perform better rather than look better or perform more
functions than others.”
When asked about his views on the digital development of passenger services by
indina railways, Mr.Gupta replied, “Railways are trying hard to stand along the digital
revolution our country is going through. The speed at which e-commerce is growing
and the digital platforms are getting more reliable, railways have been trying to get into
the race and develop itself. But the point of user centric design for development is
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