Seamless transitions from plane to train

Designing a 'phygital' journey to improve the transition of international tourists from Schiphol Airport to Amsterdam with NS (Dutch Railways)

Master thesis (2024)

Authors

K.M. Knipscheer Industrial Design Engineering

Contributors

G.H. Berghuis Responsible Marketing and Consumer Behavior (mentor)
H.J. Hultink Design, Organisation and Strategy (graduation committee member)
Faculty
Industrial Design Engineering
More Info
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Published Date

12-08-2024

Language

English

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Faculty

Industrial Design Engineering

Abstract

By the end of this year, a new NS (Dutch Railways) Sprinter will operate between Amsterdam Central Station and Hoofddorp, via Schiphol Airport. The introduction of this new train raised several questions within NS: How can this new Sprinter better meet the needs of tourists?

The initial research comprised three qualitative studies with international tourists travelling to Amsterdam, NS executive employees, and NS service employees. This research revealed that tourists often fail to notice the check-in points at Schiphol. On the other hand, NS executive employees reported frequent problems with tourists boarding trains without tickets and subsequently facing closed gates at their end destination. Interviews with NS service employees at the check-out gates at Amsterdam Central Station confirmed that many tourists travel without valid tickets from Schiphol Airport, but mention that even more tourists travel with a GVB ticket instead of an NS ticket. To address discrepancies in the findings, additional research included 16 semi-structured interviews with tourists who travelled without a valid ticket from Schiphol to Amsterdam. These findings indicate that tourists often end their journey at closed gates in Amsterdam, resulting in a negative experience. For NS, this translates to lost revenue as a significant number of tourists travel without valid tickets. The revised aim of this project focuses on ensuring tourists understand the necessity of having a valid ticket before boarding the train. The ideation phase generated numerous solutions, which were refined through expert reviews in user experience, marketing, strategy consulting, and stakeholder meetings with NS, ProRail, Spoorbouwmeester, and Schiphol.

This project presents three concepts that serve as a backlog of innovative ideas for NS, aimed at increasing ticket sales at Schiphol. These include the ‘happy flow’, focussed on promoting the desired behaviour of tourists, the ‘unhappy flow’, focussed on addressing the incorrect travel behaviour, mainly caused by the ‘GVB planners’, and the ‘backup flow’, focussed on increasing the visibility and visual space at Plaza. The thesis provides actionable recommendations on the implementation plan of these solutions and outlines the necessary steps for successful deployment.