Friday, November 07, 2003
it would appear that these Virgin trains serve as a prime example of how adding new bells and whistles to an established 'product' can just lead to more usability problems rather than any gains for the consumer. design changes are ushered in under the banner of "hi-tech = more user friendly" but really the motivations for change come from another direction altogether...
I'm thinking specifically of the little screens that display seat reservation status. in "the good old days" (ie before these new Pendolino trains were released) seat reservations were indicated by a ticket being stuck in the top of the seat. with the march of modern technology comes a new solution: LCD screens above each seat that show whether a seat is reserved. so, was this change motivated by a desire to make things easier for the user or for the provider?
as far as I can see, the only advantage to having these screens is that the train staff no longer have to run the length of the train putting tickets in the tops on the seats. surely this is an advantage for the passengers too - changes to seat reservations can be made quickly and easily to keep the whole thing running smoothly. well, no. you can only reserve seats if you do it the day before you travel, so the train staff have a full list of reserved seats before they set off, so there's no need to change the reservations during the journey.
ok, so is it an advantage to be able to see the exact details of the reservation, so that you can sit in a seat until you get to the station where the reserver is getting on? well, yes. but you could do that with the old ticket system, and the tickets were a lot easier to read than the scrolling display. what happens now is that everyone has to keep stopping on their way down the aisle just to see if a seat is reserved or not. bizarrely, the most important message of "This seat is not reserved" is the one that takes the longest to scroll across the display. why not just have it say "Free" or "Available" instead? it would seem the screens have been designed to be just too small to fulfil their purpose... dare I wonder if larger screens cost more money? of course, there are other problems here as well: some people really struggle to read the screens at all, because of their positioning and size, and I've heard many people say they just didn't know they were there.
finally, I have to recount my experience of the biggest usability problem of all for this system: there's no redundancy when things go wrong with the technology. several times I have boarded a train only to be greeted by blank screens. so you take a chance and choose a seat - there's nothing more you can do. until of course they turn the screens back on once all the other seats are full and then the person who actually reserved 'your' seat makes himself known.
so as far as I can tell, the only winners here are the train staff, who no longer have to put out the tickets. next time the screens are off I might ask them if they're getting bored with the typing as well...
I'm thinking specifically of the little screens that display seat reservation status. in "the good old days" (ie before these new Pendolino trains were released) seat reservations were indicated by a ticket being stuck in the top of the seat. with the march of modern technology comes a new solution: LCD screens above each seat that show whether a seat is reserved. so, was this change motivated by a desire to make things easier for the user or for the provider?
as far as I can see, the only advantage to having these screens is that the train staff no longer have to run the length of the train putting tickets in the tops on the seats. surely this is an advantage for the passengers too - changes to seat reservations can be made quickly and easily to keep the whole thing running smoothly. well, no. you can only reserve seats if you do it the day before you travel, so the train staff have a full list of reserved seats before they set off, so there's no need to change the reservations during the journey.
ok, so is it an advantage to be able to see the exact details of the reservation, so that you can sit in a seat until you get to the station where the reserver is getting on? well, yes. but you could do that with the old ticket system, and the tickets were a lot easier to read than the scrolling display. what happens now is that everyone has to keep stopping on their way down the aisle just to see if a seat is reserved or not. bizarrely, the most important message of "This seat is not reserved" is the one that takes the longest to scroll across the display. why not just have it say "Free" or "Available" instead? it would seem the screens have been designed to be just too small to fulfil their purpose... dare I wonder if larger screens cost more money? of course, there are other problems here as well: some people really struggle to read the screens at all, because of their positioning and size, and I've heard many people say they just didn't know they were there.
finally, I have to recount my experience of the biggest usability problem of all for this system: there's no redundancy when things go wrong with the technology. several times I have boarded a train only to be greeted by blank screens. so you take a chance and choose a seat - there's nothing more you can do. until of course they turn the screens back on once all the other seats are full and then the person who actually reserved 'your' seat makes himself known.
so as far as I can tell, the only winners here are the train staff, who no longer have to put out the tickets. next time the screens are off I might ask them if they're getting bored with the typing as well...
(c) 2003-2005 Russell Beale
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