Empowering travellers with convenience and security through an instant locker booking service at train stations

This case study outlines my process of designing a service that lets travellers book lockers at train stations for temporary periods of time.

Context

My brother, on a work trip across Europe, arrived at London’s Victoria Station an hour early to catch up on work and prepare for a meeting. Unfortunately, the meeting got unexpectedly postponed, leaving him with several hours in London.

He wanted to explore the city but with his luggage, he faced a dilemma. He wasn’t sure of where and how to securely store his belongings in unfamiliar surroundings and didn’t want to take risks with any of his items.

Later, he spent his time at the station working on another work-related presentation until it was time for him to leave for the meeting that was due.

After his brief rant over the phone with me, it struck me that I had experienced a similar issue when travelling. My friends and I checked out of a hotel room and had a few hours to spare before catching a train back home. We also ended up just killing time at the train station before our train arrived.

This is when the idea of a service that allows travellers to book a locker for a temporary period came to me.

The use case

Before delving into any research, I noted potential reasons why someone might use this service and tried to identify who the primary users could be.

These were initial assumptions that I wanted to validate through research. These were two core use cases I could think of for this service and why it should exist. These are also the type of people I ended up having conversations with.

• Tourists who want to explore a city and don’t want to carry their luggage with them all day.
• Business travellers who need to store their luggage while attending meetings and events.

Understanding the problem

I spoke with friends and family members who frequently travel to understand whether they face similar challenges when storing their belongings in unfamiliar locations.

I wanted to also gain more perspectives and understand other existing pain points in their travel experiences. The most significant problems I was able to identify were:

• Limited flexibility: It’s hard to manage luggage when there are changes in travel plans, such as early arrivals and postponed meetings, or just having a single-day plan in a city. For example: Business travellers usually stay for less than 12 hours in the same city.
• Security concerns: While many hotels allow guests to store their luggage in a common area after checking out, some still worry and have concerns about the safety of their belongings especially when they’re carrying valuable items like cash, jewellery or documents.
• Storage limitations: While hotels offer a common area for luggage storage, hostels provide lockers. These lockers often have standardised sizes, which often do not accommodate larger items like sports equipment or multiple bags of luggage.
• Limited information: Travellers use Google to locate nearby storage facilities. They usually make calls to inquire about locker availability, sizes, and prices. While not a major pain point, this process can be streamlined and improved.

Defining the target users

I’ve decided to narrow down the user segment and target primarily tourists and business travellers. These are two personas I came up with:

Sophia is a tourist visiting a new city for the first time. She is staying in a hostel and doesn’t want to leave her luggage in the room while she is out exploring the city.

• User story: As a user, I want to store my belongings in a secure place so that I can explore the city easily.
• Core use case: Has important items that need to be stored. Hence, safety is a big concern.
• Items to store: Cash, jewellery, documents, sporting equipment.

Jack is a business traveller who is attending a conference in a different city. He needs a place to store his luggage while he is attending meetings and events during the day.

• User story: As a user, I want to store my belongings someplace for a short period to attend meetings and events in my city.
• Core use case: Is staying for less than 12 hours in the same city so temporary storage is needed.
• Items to store: Suitcase and luggage.

Assumptions

To work on this service, I felt it was necessary to call out my assumptions and set a few constraints.

• Travellers require an iPhone with an internet connection.
• Free wifi would be available at train stations.

The Product: CityLock

In major cities around the world, train stations are important transportation hubs for both commuters and travellers.

To increase convenience and security, travellers can book lockers for temporary periods at stations with this service.

These lockers can be used to store luggage, personal belongings, or valuable items for a specified period, allowing travellers and commuters to move around the city unburdened.

User flow

First-time user experience

CityLock allows users to explore its features without user credentials. However, certain functions, require user authentication. These include:

• Viewing past bookings.
• Reserving lockers with payments.
• Receiving locker codes via phone number or email.
• For the train station to contact the user in case of any issues.

To access these features, users are required to sign in to the app using their phone number, Gmail ID, or Apple ID. This is the onboarding flow assuming a user signs up using their phone number.

Finding train stations near you

I’ve skipped any onboarding or explanatory screens to quickly allow users to find an available locker. This means requesting location permission first to locate nearby train stations with lockers.

Users can locate stations either by allowing the app to find stations near their current location or by manually entering their current location. After this, users can select or search for the train station they are going to from the map.

Choosing a locker size

After selecting a train station, users can view the chosen station and the current availability of locker sizes. The service provides three to four locker sizes with examples of items that can be stored inside of them. If a particular locker size is unavailable, the app will disable the corresponding card to indicate its unavailability.

Additionally, users have the option to answer a small set of questions to help them determine a suitable locker size based on their specific needs.

Locker card

The locker card is designed to answer all potential questions a traveller might have before making a booking. It provides important data points, including the:

• Locker size
• Number of available lockers
• The types of items they can accommodate
• The hourly pricing

Choosing a duration

Users can set the duration for renting the locker within a range of 2 hours to 48 hours (2 days). The slider allows users to adjust the duration, dynamically updating the prices based on both the chosen duration and locker size.

Review details

Before making the payment, users are presented with a summary detailing the selected locker, chosen duration, and price. Here, users also see information about the service policies, ensuring clarity on the following:

• Utilizing the physical locker’s release button upon usage completion.
• A fixed fee is applicable even if locker usage is shorter than the booked duration.
• Additional fees are incurred for every extra 30 minutes post the booked locker duration.

For users who entered the app as a guest, this is the point where they are encouraged to either create an account or log in using their phone number, Gmail ID, or Apple ID.

Making the payment

On the payment screen, users can select a preferred payment option based on their convenience before finalizing the locker reservation. At this point, users are informed that the locker will be reserved for 15 minutes post-payment.

If the locker remains unoccupied after this period, the payment will be automatically refunded to their account.

After the payment, the selected locker is reserved for a 15-minute duration. Also, a PIN code, along with other essential locker details, is sent to the user’s phone number or email address.

Reserving the locker

Following the locker reservation, the app asks users to allow notifications for timely alerts and messages. Once permission is granted, a notification is sent, informing the user that the locker has been reserved for 15 minutes.

Given the important role of notifications and reminders, if users deny notification permission, a banner is displayed, encouraging them to enable notifications. This helps make sure they stay informed about their locker status and receive timely reminders about the duration of starting and ending.

Within the app, users can see the reserved locker’s name, a message to place their items inside, and a timer indicating the remaining reservation time. Below, users can access their locker PIN code, which is required to open the locker.

Additionally, the app provides an option for users to set up a backup PIN code in case they lose access to the provided PIN in the app.

Placing items inside the locker

Users can open and close their locker as many times as needed. However, once they place items inside the locker and close it for the first time, the app starts the duration and sends a notification notifying the user that their locker is now in use.

When opening the app, we see a new card, with details such as the locker name in use, the scheduled end time of the duration, and a timer indicating the remaining time from the chosen duration.

Users can tap into the locker card to see a summary of the remaining time, locker size, duration, and price. In this screen, users can access the locker PIN code as needed.

They can also set up a backup code while the locker is in use. Users can also extend the locker duration, but this extension is only allowed during the booked locker duration and not after.

Changing their PIN code

Changing the provided PIN code is a simple process, similar to creating passcodes on devices. They can change the passcode to something they can remember in case users lose access to their phones or if their battery dies.

Users are asked to create a 6-digit code that they can easily remember.

Following this, they are required to verify the same PIN code for confirmation. Once the backup PIN code is successfully set, users can again change their backup code if needed.

Ending locker usage

The app sends a notification to users when 30 minutes are remaining of their locker duration. After the last 30 minutes, users again receive a notification that their locker duration has now ended. A buffer time of 15 minutes is provided, allowing users to collect their items from the locker.

After collecting their items, users can release the locker by clicking the “Release” button on the physical locker or perform the same action directly from the mobile app. Users may not have their devices with them, so users should be able to release the locker offline as well.

At this point, the user can't extend the locker duration so it has been removed from this screen.

If the user is unable to collect their items after their locker duration and buffer period ends, the authorities will retrieve the luggage after 4 hours of the locker duration.

The user will have to cover the charges for the extra 4 hours of locker usage and the storage of items by the authorities.

What if the user forgets to release the locker

To tackle this, after the 15-minute buffer period, the app reminds the user of a notification, asking whether they would like to release the locker.

• If the user is running late, they can continue using the locker, however, extra fees would apply after every 30 minutes.
• If the user forgets to release the locker after collecting their items, the notification can remind the user to release the locker from the app after the user has already left the station.

This was the ideal scenario, but in reality, users may face different situations when using the product. Let’s explore some not-so-common use cases as well.

Cancelling a reservation

There are two ways to cancel a locker reservation

• After making the payment, the locker is reserved for 15 minutes. If the locker remains unopened after this time, the paid amount will be automatically refunded to their account.
• The user can tap on the cancel button on the app to cancel his reservation.

If the user taps on the cancel button, a confirmation modal appears, asking whether they would like to proceed with cancelling the reservation. Once confirmed, the reservation is cancelled, and the user can see a summary of the refund amount.

In this context, users are assured that there are no cancellation fees, which can address potential concerns associated when cancelling a service.

Additionally, I wanted to take this opportunity to gather user feedback, offering an option for users to share why they chose to cancel their reservation. Users can go back by closing the full-screen modal if they wish to skip the feedback step.

Booking multiple lockers

Users can book another locker even while currently using one. The user goes through the same booking flow, and upon returning to the home screen, he can swipe horizontally to see information about the lockers they currently have booked. Users can manage multiple locker bookings from here.

Extending the locker duration

After tapping the locker card, users can see their locker summary, the locker PIN code, and the option to set a custom PIN code. Lastly, there is an option to extend the locker duration.

Users can choose an extension period of up to 5 hours, continue with the payment, and post-payment, successfully extend their selected locker’s duration. Confirmations are shared via email or phone number.

Finding the right locker size

Users can provide answers to a small set of questions, to get a suggested locker size. The questions include the type and number of items they want to store.

In case of uncertainty, before reaching the station and seeing the lockers users can receive a suggested locker size. Additionally, for users physically present at the station, seeing the lockers in real life will help them make better decisions.

CityLock’s App Clip

An App Clip is a small part of your app that’s discoverable at the moment it’s needed and lets people complete a quick task from your app. People can launch the App Clip to easily start and finish the task. And once the task is done, you can offer the opportunity to download your full app from the App Store.

To increase app accessibility, introducing an App Clip for CityLock would enable travellers to book lockers on the go. Using QR codes at stations simplifies the process, allowing users to scan and access the App Clip without the need to download the entire app.

After scanning the QR code, users can see available lockers at their current station, select a size, choose a duration, and complete the reservation with Apple Pay.

The App Clip shows details of the reserved locker and the PIN code to access the locker. The app clip does not have all the features of the app and focuses only on the core task of booking lockers. After the user completes their task, the App Clip encourages users to download the full app from the App Store to access all features.

Metrics to measure

I’ve selected key metrics to measure the service’s effectiveness in solving user needs. While these metrics are foundational, I understand that there may be additional important metrics to verify the service’s efficiency. These chosen metrics can provide insights into the service’s strengths and areas for improvement for CityLock.

• User retention rate: The percentage of users who continue to book lockers over time.
• Occupancy rate: The percentage of lockers in use at any given time, showing how efficiently the service utilizes locker space.
• Cancellation rate: A low cancellation rate would indicate that the service is being used effectively and that users are not having difficulty finding the locker or accessing it.

You have reached the end!

Throughout this project, I was able to develop my design process and understood that each project brings distinct challenges. This built my confidence in approaching problems with logical reasoning and an understanding of all the considerations essential for crafting a successful and user-friendly design.

You can find me on Linkedin if you have any further questions.