Usability in the non-software world

06 Feb 2016 - sjl

When you spend a lot of time in the digital world, it can be bit jarring to come back into the real, physical world. It seems like our non-digital “interfaces” are clunky and un-intuitive compared to a slick online tool that can sometimes feel like it’s reading your mind.

Now of course there are still plenty of examples of terrible UI/UX on the web and in other software but I think it’s getting rarer. We have streamlined conventions that make things more efficient and satisfying to use, and easier to learn. The understandable exception to that is in experimental areas where we are still figuring things out – virtual and augmented reality, movement, touch and haptic interfaces etc. But I digress.. I want to complain about bad user experiences in the real world.

Let’s take a couple of examples from Southern Cross Station in Melbourne. Keep in mind that this is a major interchange where many thousands of people are switching trains for the rest of their journey.

Example 1: What’s the shortest walkable path from platform 9 to 8? Answer: via the platform 1/2 end of the station. This is because platforms 1-8 don’t have escalator access at their southern end, meaning a long walk (away from where you intend to go) along the upper concourse then back from there at ground level. So a straight line distance of about 10 metres requires a walk of >120 metres.

What were the architects thinking? Did they model where passengers would move through the station? Is this a deliberate ploy to make Melbournians get more exercise or perhaps have more people pass by the shops? Frustratingly, there’s an existing underground walkway / viaduct that spans all platforms directly that was used before the station was revamped, although I’m told it’s now used for storage.

The online equivalent of this is having to navigate through a series of unrelated/unnecessary menus/pages for what is frequently the next logical step. Is usability terms, it’s about Efficiency and Learnability (Southern Cross also sees a lot of tourists who might be under the mistaken impression that to get to your destination you should walk towards it).

Example 2: You catch the same service at Southern Cross every night. Which platform is it on? Answer: spin the wheel and play platform roulette. There is currently no way to know where a train will be leaving from in advance. Some services tend to leave from the same platform while others (like the one I catch) seem to be completely randomised. It could be platform 2A, 16B or 8S etc. You have to go to the information screens (again, out of the way) and then pathfind from there. In usability terms this is about Consistency and Memorability. I understand that in unexpected circumstances, rail company may need to switch platforms if trains are out of position and there are scheduling and positioning constraints, but for improved usability they should aim to minimise surprises and randomness.

Example 3: You arrive on platform 3A where a train is waiting to board. The passenger information screen on that platform displays a destination (Shepparton). Where is the train on platform 3A going? Answer: Swan Hill. From what I can tell, the screen will show the next service to leave on 3A or 3B (since it’s sort-of one big long platform). If the Swan Hill on 3A leaves a couple of minutes after the Sheparton on 3B, people boarding the wrong train is commonplace. This isn’t a glitch or a bug – this is just the way things work at Southern Cross, and it’s a great example of confounding User Expectations.

And yes, that misleading screen does actually display “3B” in this scenario but that’s only a small help since the screen is physically on 3A, and that is the stronger message given to the user/commuter. Displaying information about a service on another platform is like labeling a UI element one thing, but having it refer to something else - it’s bad form and just wouldn’t happen in anything actually intended to be usable.

How do these problems arise? Why do they keep happening? The passenger information screen problem at least has a mainly UI and software solution and should be easier to fix. It’s the physical constraints of the real world that make the other problems harder – it’s easier to shift bits around inside a computer, somewhat hard to shift trains around, and much harder to move escalators.

On the other hand, some real world usability problems can still be mitigated with technology. For example, if there really is no way to have services depart from the same platform more consistently, then at least better communicate platform information to commuters rather than have them rely of poorly placed passenger information screens – their app already shows when the service will leave, just not the platform.

And of course, if you are at Southern Cross Station, you’re also dealing with the Myki ticketing “system”. I’ll have to leave discussion of it’s myriad of usability issues for another day.