DEVELOPING MOBILE APPS FOR RAIL-BASED PUBLIC TRANSPORT IN KLANG VALLEY
I. OKE XUE HUI
Bachelor of Applied Arts with Honours (Design Technology) 2018 DEVELOPING MOBILE APPS FOR RAIL-BASED PUBLIC TRANSPORT IN KLANG VALLEY
LOKE XUE HUI
52367
This project is one of the requirements for
Bachelor of Applied Arts with Honours
(Design Technology)
Fakulti Seni Gunaan dan Kreatif
2018 (1V(VERSITI JLALAYSIA SARAWAK
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I LOKE XUE IIUI 52367 FACULTY OF APPLIED AND CREATIVE ARTS hereby declare that the work entitled, DEVELOPING MOBILE APPS FOR RAIL-BASED PUBLIC TRANSPORT IN KLANG VALLEY is my original due work. I have not copied from any other students' work or from any other sources with the exception where reference or acknowledgement is made explicitly in the text, nor has any part of the work been written for me by another person.
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I NOORHASLINA BINTI SENIN, hereby certify that the work entitled, DEVELOPING MOBILE APPS FOR RAIL-BASED PUBLIC TRANSPORT IN KLANG VALLEY was prepared by the above mentioned student, for BA('IIELOR and was submitted to the "FACULTY" as a * partialifidl fulfillment the conferment of DEGREE WITH IIONO(URS (DESIGN TECHNOLOGY), and the aforementioned work. to the best of my knowledge, is the said student's work.
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11 The project entitled `Developing Mobile Apps For Rail-Based Public Transport' was prepared by Loke Xue Hui and submitted to the Faculty of Applied and Creative Arts in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a Bachelor of Applied Arts with Honours (Design
Technology).
(Miss Noorhaslina Binti Senin)
Date: 2,A /wig
III ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First of all, I would like to dedicate my sincere thanks to my beloved supervisor, Miss
Noorhaslina Binti Senin for all the uncountable help, intellectual support and guidance toward completing my Final Year Project. Thanks to her encouragement and trust in me, I am able to complete this study on time.
I would like to express my thanks to my coursemates and friends for being such a grateful friend that helped and assist me in order to complete the project. I really appreciate all the helps given.
Last but not least, I would like to express my warmest gratitude to my family especially my parents who always be my listener. Their continuous support, love and understanding have built me to be a better person in my university life.
IV CONTENTS
Page
Title page
Declaration I
Verification III
Acknowledgment IV
Content V
List of Tables IX
List of Figures XII
Abstract XIII
Abstrak XIV
CHAPTER 1 INTODUCTION
1.1 Background I
1.1.1 The Evolution of Rail Transit Network in Malaysia 1
1.1.2 Railway Transit Apps in Malaysia 6
1.1.3 Fares and Payment Method 7
1.2 Problem Statement 8
1.3 Research Questions 8
1.4 Research Objectives 8
1.5 Scope of Study 9
1.6 Limitation of Research 9
V CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Public Transport 10
2.2 Mobile Apps 11
2.3 Mobility Apps 11
2.4 Usability 12
2.5 User Experience, UX 13
2.6 User Interface, UI 13
2.7 Service Design 14
2.8 Color 15
2.9 Layout 16
CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Primary Data 17
3.1.1 User Journey Map 17
3.1.2 User Interview 18
3.1.3 Observation 19
3.1.4 Competitor Analysis 20
3.1.5 Visual Analysis 20
3.2 Secondary Data 20
CHAPTER 4 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
4.1 Introduction 20
4.2 User Journey Map 20
4.3 Participant Interview 24
VI 4.3.1 The routine of using rail-based public transport 25
4.3.2 Problems when using rail-based public transport 26
4.3.3 The use of rail-based public transport mobile application 28
4.4 Service Provider Interview 29
4.5 Observation 30
4.6 Competitor Analysis 32
CHAPTER 5 DESIGN PROPOSAL
5.1 Introduction 37
5.2 Concept Design 37
5.3 User Task Model 39
5.4 Design Development 41
5.4.1 Sitemap 41
5.4.2 Wireframe 42
5.5 Visual Design Proposal 42
5.5.1 Logo Design 43
5.5.2 Button and Icon Design 44
5.5.3 Color Scheme 46
5.5.4 Typography 46
5.6 User Interface Design 47
5.7 Software and Prototype 55
5.8 Promotion and Strategy 56
5.8.1 Social Media 56
vii 5.8.2 Promotional Material 57
5.8.3 Microsite 57
5.8.4 Product Video 57
5.8.5 Rewards and Collaboration 57
5.8.6 Ambient Ads 59
CHAPTER 6 VALIDATION
6.1 Introduction 63
6.2 Usability Test and Validation 63
CHAPTER 7 RECOMMENDATION AND CONCLUSION
7.1 Recommendation 66
7.2 Conclusion 66
REFERENCES 68
LIST OF APPENDICES
Appendix A: User Interview Guide 74
Appendix B: Service Provider Interview 83
Appendix C: System Usability Scale (SUS) 86
Appendix D: Design Development 87
VIII LIST OF TABLES
Table 4.1 Feedbacks from user journey map.
Table 4.2 General descriptions of the interviewees.
Table 4.3 Interviewee's frequency of using public transport
Table 4.4 Comparison between the competitors.
Table 6.1 The results of validations that participated by 5 user
ix LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1.1 The KTM route in Malaysia is nearly 160 km long
Figure 1.2 Light Rail Transit (LRT) is introduced in year 1996 and it is operated by RapidRail
Figure 1.3 MRT Line started its operation in year 2017 (Yusof Mat Isa, 2017).
Figure 1.4 KL Monorail Line is the only monorail system in Malaysia (Sika, n. d. ).
Figure 1.5 KLIA Express is the train line that connects KL International Airports with the KL city center (Pakde, 2010).
Figure 1.6 The latest Kuala Lumpur Train Map in year 2017 (KL City Guide, 2017).
Figure 1.7 Existing railway transit apps in Malaysia (Google Play, n. d. )
Figure 1.8 MyRapid TnG (Left) is valid for all railway station in Malaysia while Toke (Right) is only valid for Rapid KL Trains (MyRapid, n. d. ).
Figure 3.1 Template of User Journey Map is given to each participant to fill in during or after their journey.
Figure 4.1 User Journey Map of a daily train user who named Mr Ong.
Figure 4.2 User Journey Map of Miss Liew, a master student who is a regular train user.
Figure 4.3 User Journey Map of a rare train user who named Madam Kong.
Figure 4.4 User Journey Map of Miss Ng who takes LRT as the main transport to work
Figure 4.5 Interview session with KTM Station Manager.
Figure 4.6 Digital time table board in Maluri MRT station.
Figure 4.7 Check in / check out gate that will open by scanning the card or token.
Figure 4.8 Self-service token buying machines in KTM (left) and MRT (right) Stations.
Figure 4.9 Moovit provides guide to users by showing them the live directions.
Figure 4.10 NAVITIME allows users to choose their departure and arrival points directly on the map.
X Figure 4.11 KL Transit helps user in calculating the ticket fares and provide train schedule infomation.
Figure 5.1 Mood board is created to present the visual ideas of All Rides.
Figure 5.2 There are total of 5 steps to complete the ticket purchasing task.
Figure 5.3 User task model for train route finding.
Figure 5.4 User task model for Top Up.
Figure 5.5 User task model for subscribing a plan.
Figure 5.6 User task model for train station schedule checking
Figure 5.7 Sitemap of All Rides.
Figure 5.8 Final wireframes of All Rides
Figure 5.9 Idea development or sketches of All Rides logo.
Figure 5.10 Logo design of All Rides app.
Figure 5.11 Color scheme of Logo design of All Rides app
Figure 5.12 Rectangle rounded corner button in All Rides.
Figure 5.13 The flat button "close" is used in the ticket dialog content.
Figure 5.14 Flat icon designs that can be found in homepage of All Rides app.
Figure 5.15 The color scheme of All Rides App.
Figure 5.16 Source Sans Pro and Comfortaa are the font that used in All Rides.
Figure 5.17 All Rides uses static walkthrough screens to show the value of the app.
Figure 5.18 The page design of sign in page (left) and sign up page (right) is a bit different.
Figure 5.19 Home page design of All Rides
Figure 5.20 Bottom navigation bars that allows user to switch the current actions easily.
Figure 5.21 Page designs of train route planner and ticket purchasing.
Figure 5.22 Schedule page allows users to search for the latest train schedule.
Figure 5.23 Page design of E-Ticket. XI Figure 5.24 All Rides provides different type of plan that benefits the target users.
Figure 5.25 The Instagram account of All Rides.
Figure 5.26 All android users can download All Rides from Google Play for free.
Figure 5.27 Microsite is one of the marketing strategies to promote All Rides.
Figure 5.28 A video to promote the feature of All Rides is created.
Figure 5.29 Promotion and rewards that provided by All Rides.
Figure 5.30 Outdoor advertising to promote All Rides app at the entrance of Maluri MRT Station.
Figure 5.31 Ambience advertising in train stations.
Table 6.1 The results of validations that participated by 5 user
XII ABSTRACT
The people in Malaysia has encouraged by government to use public transport as the main transportation. However, there are a lot of problems encountered by the train users in
Malaysia. Thus, the objective of this research is to identify the problems encountered by users when using railed-based public transport and propose a suitable solution through a mobile application for railed-based public transport. The study also focuses on visual design and main function of the mobile app. The research is conducted around the Klang Valley area. The findings showed that, there are no real-time schedules of the train, no delay information, users are often confused by the train routes and so on. In this study, the main feature of the mobile app is proposed through the findings of the research. Thus, the proposed mobile app can help the users in gaining information such as time and directions of the train route, ticket purchasing through apps and real-time train schedule.
Keywords: Public Transport, Mobile App, Train
XIII ABSTRAK
Rakyat Malaysia digalakkan menggunakan pengangkutan awam sebagai pengangkutan utama oleh kerajaan. Walau bagaimanapun, terdapat banyak masalah yang dihadapi oleh pengangkutan transit rel di Malaysia. Oleh itu, penyelidikan ini bertujuan untuk mengenalpasti masalah yang dihadapi oleh pengguna apabila menggunakan pengangkutan transit rel dan seterusnya mencadangkan penyelesaian yang sesuai melalui aplikasi mobil. Kajian inijuga memberi tumpuan kepada reka bentuk visual dan fungsi utama aplikasi mobil. Penyelidikan ini dijalankan di sekitar kawasan Lembah Klang. Hasil pengajian menunjukkan bahawa pengguna menghadapi masalah seperti ketiadaan jadual masa pengangkutan transit rel, tiada maklumat tundaan; pengguna sering keliru dengan laluan transit dan sebagainya. Fungsi utama aplikasi mobil ini dicadangkan melalui keputusan kajian. Oleh itu, rekaan yang dihasilkan dapat memudahkan pengguna mendapatkan pelbagai maklumat serperti masa dan cara perjalanan, pembelian tiket melalui aplikasi mobil and jadual terkini transit rel.
Kata Kunci: Pengangkutan awam, Mobile Aplikasi, Pengangkutan Rel Transit
XIV CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
The high demand of fossil fuel has becoming an important world concern issue nowadays. The transportation system in Malaysia is very complex and mostly using fossil fuels. However, there are many ways in minimizing the use of fossil fuel in our daily life.
Encouraging the use of public transport can be one of the ways to optimize the consumption of the energy. Thus, the aim of this study is to develop an interactive mechanism that can provide the latest state of rail-based public transport for the routes that are selected.
According to Syed Jaymal Zahiid (2016), Kuala Lumpur is around 243 square kilometers big. Based on the statistic given by Land and Public Transport Commission
(Spad), Malaysia's current urban railway systems are covering approximately 80 kilometers, including Light Rail Transit (LRT), Monorail, Mass Rapid Transit (MRT), Komuter Tanah
Melayu (KTM) and KLIA Express.
1.1.1 The Evolution of Rail Transit Network in Malaysia
The role of additional public transport has becoming more important and more important with the rapid population growth of urban and the increasing of traffic congestion in city. Ever since 1995, Malaysia's rail-based public transport has been broadly used in
Kuala Lumpur and Klang Valley. The earliest rail system that existed in Malaysia is Keretapi
Tanah Melayu, KTM. According to KTM (2017), the first section of Malaysian Railway started its operation during 1880 and KTM is finally formed in year 1948. In 1992, KTM was
1 corporatized and renamed to Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB). There are two types of
railway service under KTMB, which are KTM ETS and KTM Komuter. KTM ETS is an
inter-city rail service that using multiple units of electricity while KTM Komuter was
introduced in 1995 to provide local rail services in Kuala Lumpur and Klang Valley. The first
line that operated by KTM Komuter is the Seremban line, which runs from Rawang station
and ends at Seremban. This nearly 160 km long route consists of 3 more stations which are
Kepong Sentral, KL Sentral and Midvalley. The Seremban line is then expanded to Rembau
in 2007. The second line of KTM, Port Klang Line started its operation in 14 August 1995. It
runs nearly 45 km from Batu Caves to Port Klang.
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In 1996, the Light Rail Transit (LRT) that operated by Rapid Rail was introduced.
There were two hinged and medium capacity rapid transit routes which are the Ampang Line
and Sri Petaling Line. The extension project of Sri Petaling Line is divided into two stages
which Sri Petaling is extended to Bandar Kinrara in 2015 while stage two was finished in
2016 with the extension to Putra Heights. In November 2011, the Kelana Jaya line was
integrated into the Ampang Line. There are total of 24 elevated light rail stations and 5 underground stations with Subang Depot as the first station until Putra Terminal. Finally, the
2 primary network of Kuala Lumpur has formed a loop by the joining of Putra Height with Sri
Petaling Line in 2016 (Ding, Ujang, Hamid, & Wu, 2015).
Figure 1.2 Light Rail Transit (LRT) is introduced in year I t)% and it i, operated by Rapid Rail.
The Klang Valley Mass Rapid Transit (KVMRT) project was proposed in the 10th
Malaysia Plan (Onn, Mohamed Rehan Karim & Sumiani Yusoff, 2014). Based on Pemandu
(2016), the aim of KVMRT project is to transform Klang Valley into one of the world's top convenient city by 2020. There will be a total of 3 lines to run through areas within a radius of
20 km from centre of the city, with total of 141 km routes. The first MRT line which departs from Sungai Buloh and ends at Kajang, was fully operating in July 2017. It is expected to transport around 400,000 passengers per day.
3 Figure 1.3 MRT Line started its operation in year 2017 (Yusof Mat Isa, 2017).
In 2003, KL Monorail started operating. It is the only urban monorail system in
Malaysia with the length of 8.6 km and total of 11 stations. It was linked to KL Sentral
Station since year 2003 and runs through the popular shopping paradise in Malaysia which is the Bukit Bintang area and the midtown of Kuala Lumpur. (Ding, Ujang, Hamid, & Wu,
2015). Back in year 2012, there were 2 type of flagship service was launched by Express Rail
Link Sdn Bhd (ERL) which are the KLIA Express and KLIA Transit. ERL has managed to run 6500 trips averagely per month and travelled more than 66 million kilometers. Besides that, they also managed to minimize their cancelled trips to less than two in a month (KLIA
Express, 2017). KLIA Express train is a connection that allows travelers to travel from airports of Kuala Lumpur to the city center. Based on Wonderful Malaysia (2017), the total travelling time is about 30 minutes, 57 kilometers long and the train will stops at KL Sentral which located at city center. KL Sentral is Malaysia's biggest transit hub that links all the urban and suburban transits. There are some modem facilities or services that can be found in
KLIA Express including TV-screens. It is a more luxurious train compared to KLIA Transit.
Unlike KLIA Express that goes straight to KL Sentral, KLIA Transit has 3 stops before reaching KL Sentral. It takes about 35 minutes per trip and it is widely used by people who live in Kuala Lumpur.
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Figure 1.5 KLIA Express is the train line that connects KL International Airports with the KL city center (Pakde, 2010).
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Figure 1.6 The latest Kuala Lumpur Train Map in year 2017 (KL City Guide, 2017).
1.1.2 Railway Transit Apps in Malaysia
The invention of mobility apps has provided a new habits or lifestyle nowadays. In the
early years of mobile apps, users usually will download an app that allows them to refer the
public transit schedules and check for static information. Now, with the availability of mobile
data and GPS location services, users can get directions and destination information on real-
time information (Shaheen, Martin, Cohen, Musunuri & Bhattacharyya, 2016). In Malaysia,
there are a number of public transport apps that can be found such as Malaysia Map for LRT
& Train, KL Transit and others. However, based on the apps review in Google Play Store,
most of the schedule and arrival time that provided by the apps are not up to date; the time provided in the apps is out of synchronization.
6 m KL TRANSIT .. KUALALUMPUR
Figure 1.7 Existing railway transit apps in Malaysia (Google Play, n. d. )
1.1.3 Fares and Payment Method
LRT, Monorail and MRT users can purchase a token from a machine which available in all stations for a single or return journey. MyRapid Season Pass is a card that allows users to travel as many rides as he or she wants within 30 days. Besides that, MyRapid card was also widely used by regular public transport users, which allows users to store their money in it (Shamsunahar, 2015). However, MyRapid Card is officially replaced by the new MyRapid
TnG (Touch n Go) on 15 July 2017. This new MyRapid TnG card is similar to Touch n' Go card, which is prepaid-stored value card that can be used for all Malaysia's highway toll. It is valid on all Rapid KL services in such as Rapid KL buses, LRTs, Monorail, MRT and KTM
(Change MyRapid card, 2017). For KTM, users can purchase the ticket online, at front counter or use Touch n'Go card (Shamsunahar, 2015).
Figure 1.8 MyRapid TnG (Left) is valid for all railway station in Malaysia while Token (Right) is only valid for Rapid KL Trains$ (MyRapid, n. d. ).
7 1.2 Problem Statement
landmark As a city that become the pillar of the national economic growth and of
The Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur has undergo urbanization and gives a lot of contribution. increasing demand of vehicle ownership and utilization has resulted in traffic congestion and environment pollution in Malaysia. Thus, people are encouraged by government to use public transport in order to reduce the current traffic jamming. However, private vehicle remain as bad Malaysian's main transportation due to various factors that related to public transport's service (Ismail, R., Hafezi, M. H., Nor, R. M., & Ambak, K. ). Due to the lack of information such as train delays and schedule updates, the train users are often unable to plan their travel for journey properly. Incidents such as sudden close of LRT station have causes trouble train users as they don't receive any instant updates (The Star, 2017).
1.3 Research Question
1. What are the problems encountered by users when using railed-based public transport?
2. How can mobile apps solve the current problem faced by the user?
3. What are the important features to consider when designing the application?
4. How does user interact with the proposed apps?
1.4 Research Objectives
1. To identify the problems encountered by users when using railed-based public
transport.
2. To analyze the existing railed-based public transport apps.
3. To develop an application for railed-based public transport in Malaysia.
4. To validate the proposed apps.
8