The client
The Gloucestershire Community Rail Partnership (GCRP) is a community interest company better connecting visitors & local people with the rail network around Gloucestershire.
Their stated aims:
- To contribute to the visitor experience and long-term economic sustainability of Gloucestershire.
- To improve accessibility to public transport.
- To improve the integration of transport through sustainable modes.
- To increase ridership profile and community involvement at all Gloucestershire’s railway stations.
- To provide community insight to shape future proposals for rail investment and services across the county.
The challenge
GCRP have been printing artistic, curated walking and tourism maps for the Gloucestershire area – these are placed in train stations around Gloucester and have proven very popular.
GCRP had no way to replicate this success online and to integrate this with an uplift in rail travel.
Their core goals were:
- Increase rail ticket sales
- Encourage length of stay
- Showcase the potential
- Have a map as a product
- Promote the three principles of responsibility:
- Environmental Impact
- Social Impact
- Economic Impact
Technical requirements:
- Function as a publicly working product
- Work cross device / cross browser
- Deliver in June 2022
- Satisfy the core goals
The solution
GCRP engaged Psand to evolve a minimum viable product to satisfy their goals.
Starting with simple collaborative mockups created in Figma, we were able to work with the client to rapidly establish what was reasonable to achieve within an aggressive timescale and very limited budget. The mockups highlighted significant design decisions in presenting the interface successfully, as the client envisaged it, to both desktop & mobile devices.
The user flow was to be:
- Introduce stakeholders and functionality
- Choose a station
- Choose destination attractions
- Print or download a map
- Be guided to buy a train ticket
Being required to work well on mobile, we settled on a full screen map, with the entire application for steps 2, 3 & 4 occurring within the map interface.
The results
The client requirements were met using the following solutions:
- Psand high performance flat file site generator
- Workflow utilising GitLab and CI / CD for continuous development
- Leaflet map library
- Filtered OpenStreetMap tiles
- Overlaid OpenRailwayMap data
- Routes and locations utilising asynchronous GeoJSON format
- A simple “Shopping cart” of add and remove locations using browser cookies
The project is currently at the end of Phase 1 of 2 and the funders and stakeholders are very pleased with the outcome. Phase 2 requires ticket booking integration before reaching public release.
Next steps:
- Integrate a React content management system for managing locations
- Integrate ticket booking with the train operator companies
- Achieve WCAG AA rating for accessibility to allow integration with publicly funded services (.gov.uk)
Gloucestershire stations in the context of the wider rail network:
Station detail page:
Performance:
