In my research of Philadelphia’s public transport usage, I found a large amount of passengers
using buses were doing so without the SEPTA app. Why was that? When I downloaded the app,
I realized. This case study was aimed to boost public transport usage in Philly, via a user-
centred redesign of the app.

ROLE

TEAM

CLIENT

TIMELINE

UI DESIGNER

UX RESEARCHER

SELF

SEPTA

2 MONTHS

Case Study:
SEPTA App

In my research of Philadelphia’s public transport usage, I found a large amount of passengers
using buses were doing so without the SEPTA app. Why was that? When I downloaded the app,
I realized. This case study was aimed to boost public transport usage in Philly, via a user-
centred redesign of the app.

ROLE

TEAM

CLIENT

TIMELINE

UI DESIGNER

UX RESEARCHER

SELF

SEPTA

2 MONTHS

Case Study:
SEPTA App

SEPTA

Case Study

In my research of Philadelphia’s public transport usage, I found a large amount of passengers using buses were doing so without the SEPTA app. Why was that? When I downloaded the app, I realized. This case study was aimed to boost public transport usage in Philly, via a user-centered redesign of the app.

ROLE

TEAM

CLIENT

TIMELINE

UX DESIGNER, UX RESEARCHER

SELF

SEPTA

3 MONTHS

In my research of Philadelphia’s public transport usage, I found a large amount of passengers
using buses were doing so without the SEPTA app. Why was that? When I downloaded the app,
I realized. This case study was aimed to boost public transport usage in Philly, via a user-
centred redesign of the app.

ROLE

TEAM

CLIENT

TIMELINE

UI DESIGNER

UX RESEARCHER

SELF

SEPTA

2 MONTHS

Case Study:
SEPTA App

SEPTA

Case Study

In my research of Philadelphia’s public transport usage, I found a large amount of passengers using buses were doing so without the SEPTA app. Why was that? When I downloaded the app, I realized. This case study was aimed to boost public transport usage in Philly, via a user-centered redesign of the app.

ROLE

TEAM

CLIENT

TIMELINE

UX DESIGNER, UX RESEARCHER

SELF

SEPTA

3 MONTHS

In my research of Philadelphia’s public transport usage, I found a large amount of passengers
using buses were doing so without the SEPTA app. Why was that? When I downloaded the app,
I realized. This case study was aimed to boost public transport usage in Philly, via a user-
centred redesign of the app.

ROLE

TEAM

CLIENT

TIMELINE

UI DESIGNER

UX RESEARCHER

SELF

SEPTA

2 MONTHS

Case Study:
SEPTA App

SEPTA

Case Study

In my research of Philadelphia’s public transport usage, I found a large amount of passengers using buses were doing so without the SEPTA app. Why was that? When I downloaded the app, I realized. This case study was aimed to boost public transport usage in Philly, via a user-centered redesign of the app.

ROLE

TEAM

CLIENT

TIMELINE

UX DESIGNER, UX RESEARCHER

SELF

SEPTA

3 MONTHS

SEPTA

Case Study

In my research of Philadelphia’s public transport usage, I found a large amount of passengers using buses were doing so without the SEPTA app. Why was that? When I downloaded the app, I realized. This case study was aimed to boost public transport usage in Philly, via a user-centered redesign of the app.

ROLE

TEAM

CLIENT

TIMELINE

UX DESIGNER, UX RESEARCHER

SELF

SEPTA

3 MONTHS

SEPTA

Case Study

In my research of Philadelphia’s public transport usage, I found a large amount of passengers using buses were doing so without the SEPTA app. Why was that? When I downloaded the app, I realized. This case study was aimed to boost public transport usage in Philly, via a user-centered redesign of the app.

ROLE

TEAM

CLIENT

TIMELINE

UX DESIGNER, UX RESEARCHER

SELF

SEPTA

3 MONTHS

DESIGN CHALLENGE
The SEPTA App was meant to be the go-to for all things transportation in Philadelphia, but complicated the process of movement far more than it augmented it.

The challenge here was to design a system that not only was easy-to-use for all age groups, but also make the process as appealing as possible in order to increase the App’s MAU.
USER RESEARCH

Design flaws

Sept 15

MEJA_

Worth the read

Worst designed transit app I've

ever used

Mar 16

paulraphael

The positive reviews are perplexing. Maybe

they're rewarding Septa's diversity initiative;

clearly the app designer is from a far-away

planet of reptilian creatures who perceive

time in 4 dimensions and use an inscrutiable

non-Euclidean visual language. Bravo!


But I can't figure out a bus schedule to save

my life. The app is full of things that look like

icons but aren't; the different sections

(buses, trains) are designed differently; it

doesn't do half the things you'd expect it to

do based on what city transit apps do the

world over.


Please, please hire a human UX designer and

start over.

Terrible

May 24

JustDent

Unreliable for real-time bus info

4y ago

Martinphilly

Almost Worthless

Feb 13

Sawdust & Noise

How to make a bad app worse

5y ago

Scout88

Frustrated SEPTA App User

1y ago

Rider Thulcandera

Information disconnect

1y ago

1bhfmom

USER FLOW
The old app had an unnecessarily complex user flow making the process not only frustrating, but borderline impossible..
HOW DO I KNOW WHICH ROUTE?
TO SOLVE THIS

I created a "Where To" control, which lets the app do the work instead of the user.

DESIGN CONSISTENCY
Every page of the app felt like a different app.. let's fix that.
Old Design
Redesign
LASTLY, EXPERIENCE

Travelers usually want the quickest way to get around.. but, everyone can be a traveler.

The Outcome

"This redesign would be the best thing to have happened to Philly"

Michelle Rogers

Drexel University UX Professor

We stood outside 3 high-traffic SEPTA stations in Philly and conducted some final user tests. Here's what we found.

CSAT

88

32 Participants

3 Locations

4 Cohorts

NPS Score

22

32 Participants

3 Locations

2 Cohorts

CES

8/10

10 Participants

3 Locations

1 Cohort

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