Designing Mobility and Transport Services: Developing traveller experience tools

European cities increasingly face problems caused by transport and traffic. For many people transport provision is unsatisfactory and current arrangements are leading to a deteriorating environment. A fundamental problem is that our currently fragmented approach makes it difficult to understand fully the circumstances and needs of transport users. In any overall approach public transport is a crucial component. Designing Mobility and Transport Services shows how these issues can be addressed and resolved.

The development of an inclusive, validated passenger experience measurement instrument is the first step in understanding the situation and thus tackling it. It is needed if we are to create high quality, user centred, integrated, accessible public transport services, which are capable of attracting and retaining public transport users whilst meeting sustainability targets. The METPEX research project was devised to tackle these issues. Coordinated by Coventry University, the METPEX consortium brought together 16 European partners from 12 countries. The project’s underlying rationale was the proposition that if transport operators and authorities were provided with a robust, reliable and tailorable means of measuring the whole multimodal passenger journey, they could improve service provision.

The book describes how such an improvement can be achieved, to attract travellers out of their private vehicles, thereby reducing congestion and pollution and increasing health and well-being. It provides a template for a creative approach and a meta-design narrative in designing for transport systems to enhance mobility choices by improving the door to door journey and thus underpin sustainable transport initiatives.

Michael Tovey is Reader in Design Pedagogy and Professor of Industrial Design at Coventry University. He was Dean of the Coventry School of Art and Design for 18 years.

Andree Woodcock is Professor of Educational Ergonomics and Design and Coventry University and Director of the Centre of Excellence in Product and Automotive Design.

Jane Osmond is Research Fellow for the Centre of Excellence for Automotive and Product Design (CEPAD). As research fellow for the Centre, her main duties include carrying out, analysing and publishing qualitative research on a number of projects.