Paint a Picture

Context

Cologne's public-transport operator, KVB, runs a ticketing system that is, in practice, an obstacle course: vending machines that demand exact change and routinely fail, a mobile app that needs a live connection nobody has underground, and a purchase process slower than the ride itself. The session opened with that lived frustration as the way in.

The argument

Borrowing Michael Schrage's framing — what does a product's design inadvertently turn its customers into? — the talk argues that KVB's ticketing is, in effect, designed to produce fare dodgers: the honest path costs more time and friction than most riders are willing to pay. Contrasted against systems that get out of the way — Melbourne's myki and Sydney's Opal, both a single tap on and off — and MasterCard's contactless PayPass trial on New York/New Jersey transit, as a lower-friction alternative already proven at scale.

A companion write-up with the full Cologne ticketing example: Easily Become a Fare Dodger (onygo.org).