Gantavya / UX case study
Making bus bookingsimpler, clearerand more reassuring.
A mobile bus-booking experience explored through user research, journey mapping, interaction design, prototyping and usability validation.
- Role
- Design Lead
- Project duration
- 4.5 months
- Methodology
- Design Thinking
Designing and managing the project from start to finish, in collaboration with the Expedien team.
01 / The challenge
The challenge.
A service that worked through human assistance needed a clearer path to self-service.
Everyday journeys. Everyday pressure.
Gantavya operates intercity bus services between Jeend and Gurgaon. At the time of this project, bookings and cancellations were handled manually through phone calls and WhatsApp messages. As usage increased, this introduced friction, limited transparency and operational inefficiencies.
The objective was not merely to digitize bookings, but to redesign the service experience for passengers, operators and the business into a scalable, user-centric system.
Clarity, trust and speed over features.
The primary focus was everyday commuters with limited digital exposure, travelling frequently between cities like Gurugram, Hisar and Jind. The experience needed to work under time pressure, language constraints and low digital confidence.
02 / Empathize
Empathize.
Understanding commuter behaviour means understanding hesitation—not just the steps in a booking.
The initial unknowns.
The biggest risk was designing based on assumptions.
- No usage data
- No user flows
- No system logs
- No app
- 01How people currently use the service?
- 02In what situations they use it?
- 03What they do when things go wrong?
Research / Key insight
Users don’t fear technology. They fear making irreversible mistakes under time pressure.
The documented pain points connect effort, language, payment anxiety and uncertainty about a trip. These observations set the direction for a trust-first booking experience.
| Pain point | Severity |
|---|---|
| Cannot track bus location | 3 / 5 |
| Cannot modify booking details | 3 / 5 |
| Long, repetitive booking process | 3 / 5 |
| Difficult to use in urgent situations | High |
| Language barriers (English typing) | 2 / 5 |
| Lack of transparency and feedback | 2 / 5 |
| Fear of digital payments | 1 / 5 |
| Service management inconsistencies | High |
A workshop with 22 real users.
A hands-on workshop brought together users across all three groups: elite users, digitally fluent professionals and everyday commuters.
- 01Card sorting
- 02Journey mapping
- 03Persona definition
- 04Task mapping & prioritization
Workshop / Original evidence
Workshop / mapping ideas
03 / Define
Define.
The focus shifted from adding features to improving confidence and clarity.
Reframing the real problem
How might we design a self-service, trust-first mobility experience that works for users with low digital confidence, while reducing operational dependency on humans?
Why a design workshop was necessary
If information architecture and flows are wrong, no UI can fix it.
- 01Users mentally organize routes differently.
- 02Users interpret confirmations emotionally, not logically.
- 03Users rely on reassurance more than efficiency.
A progressive, trust-focused journey.
Deferred friction, adaptive authentication and reassurance-driven design. Minimize early commitment, delay friction-heavy tasks, provide clear recovery and support urgent bookings.
From arrival to onward travel.
A considered first step.
The source begins with orientation before the booking journey.
04 / Design
Design.
Freehand sketching explored structure, hierarchy and key decision points before committing to wireframes.
From insight to simplicity.
Early sketches allowed rapid iteration on core flows and interaction patterns. The work moved from paper exploration to structural wireframes focused on reducing fear, effort and uncertainty for users with low digital confidence.
Sketchbook / Original evidence
Freehand sketching
Concept sketching / Key insights
Structure before decoration.
- 01Users Need to Act Before They Commit
- 02Typing Is a Bigger Barrier Than Expected
- 03Users Look for Reassurance, Not Features
- 04One Primary Action per Screen Works Best
- 05Booking Flow Must Feel Progressive, Not Linear
- 06Tracking Is More Important Than Ownership
- 07Payment Needs Calm, Not Urgency
- 08Repetition Should Feel Effortless
Design principles
- Self-service by default
- Minimize typing, maximize selection
- Clear feedback at every step
- Design for use under stress
05 / Prototype
Prototype.
Reducing risk before building: test flow and hierarchy, then simulate real usage.
Error prevention.
Speed. Confidence.
- Low-fidelity wireframes
- Test flow & hierarchy.
- High-fidelity prototypes
- Simulate real usage.
The goal was to confirm whether earlier insights translated into usable, confident actions, and to measure effort, hesitation and errors.
Interaction lab / New design exploration
Choose, don’t type.
Familiar stops make the destination a visible choice instead of a blank field.
- Source problem
- Difficulty typing destinations in English.
New visual exploration · Not the prototype tested in the study. Booking, payment and location are simulated.
YOUR NEXT JOURNEY
Where are
we going?
RECENT ROUTE
06 / Test
Test.
Validate whether the final prototype reduced effort, uncertainty and dependency on human support compared with manual booking.
Behavioural success.
Not visual preference.
Moderated usability testing with a high-fidelity interactive prototype. These are reported prototype findings, not live-product performance.
12 users
- 5Everyday commuters (primary users)
- 3Working professionals
- 4Digitally confident users
Scenarios tested
- Book a ticket urgently
- Modify / understand booking details
- Complete payment
- Track bus after booking
Can users complete the task without help?
| Task | Success rate |
|---|---|
| Route selection | 78% |
| Seat selection | 73% |
| Booking confirmation | 71% |
| Payment completion | 68% |
| Bus tracking | 82% |
Reported average task completion: 74%
Time to complete booking.
| Experience | Avg. time |
|---|---|
| Manual (Call / WhatsApp) | ~6–8 mins |
| App Prototype | ~2–3 mins |
60%
Reported reduction in booking time.
Approximate time ranges and summary figures are reproduced as reported in the supplied study, not recalculated or independently verified.
Observation → design implication
Bus tracking had the highest reported completion (82%); payment had the lowest (68%). The results suggest that visibility supported task completion, while payment deserves further refinement and testing. They do not establish business impact or statistical significance.
07 / Reflection
Reflection.
Clarity and reassurance belong throughout the journey—not only at confirmation.
Confidence is part
of the journey.
The documented work connects a self-service goal with clearer route choices, visible booking information and reassurance under time pressure. Its emphasis is reducing unnecessary effort for everyday commuters.
These artifacts describe research and design exploration, not verified live-product performance.
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