Transport for Humans: five provocations for transport brands from Rory Sutherland and Pete Dyson

Earlier this month, we hosted our clients from Transport for London and Greater London Authority for a brilliant session with Rory Sutherland and Pete Dyson, the brains behind the thought-provoking book, Transport for Humans. Published in 2021, the book has driven some interesting conversations around the effective practices operators can employ to make transport systems work better for the people they’re designed for. On the whole, Transport for Humans emphasises the need for public transport to not just get users from A to B efficiently, but also provide them with a positive experience.

The session, led by Katie Lee, Chief Operating Officer, was an interactive debate between the Wavemaker team, our clients, and guest authors, Rory Sutherland and Pete Dyson. Below, we’ve distilled five provocations for transport brands.

At Wavemaker, we understand that growth comes by embracing every opportunity to learn and opening our minds to new ideas. This session with our public transport clients was indeed an eye-opener to some behavioural attitudes of the audience we serve.
Katie Lee, Chief Operating Officer

Five provocations for travel brands

Pay-as-you-go is disincentivising travel.

How can consumers be better supported to save cost, as well as get value for their money? Could public transport users pay an upfront fee which then brings down the cost of individual trips, removing the car’s sunk cost advantage? Could road tax be a variable cost based on usage of the car? These are quite pertinent questions to think about especially with the current economic and cost of living crisis.

To improve customer perception, invest in experience, not faster transport.

Transport brands can change users’ overall perceptions of service far more cost effectively by identifying opportunities to invest in improving their experience of their journey rather than through mass infrastructure projects.

Collaborate with employers to get people back into the city between Monday and Friday.

The reality for most 9 to 5 workers is a hybrid mode of working. In light of this, transport brands could hugely benefit from partnership deals with employers. This could be in the form of specific travel benefits, bringing workers back into the city during the week, delivering upfront revenue.

Brands need to constantly experiment. Don’t wait for the perfect solution.

Radical ideas can come from embracing the possibility of happy accidents. By not waiting for the perfect solution, testing ideas can bring about unexpected learnings and benefits to service.

Punctuality doesn’t equal happy passengers.

We must assess the right proxy metrics to understand what indicates customer satisfaction. Just because a train or a bus is on time, it doesn’t mean the passenger has had a good journey. Brands need to understand peoples’ experiences of travelling, and design policies to make travel better, easier, more enjoyable and more sustainable.