Dublin Bus
Moving the city forward
The Challenge
Dublin Bus engaged with Image Now to undertake a rebranding project based on the guiding principles of clarity, simplicity, visibility and continuity. Following the refinement of a new brand identity and its application across a range of communications materials, we then addressed the customer journey and wayfinding across the city.
The system up to this point had been ad-hoc in nature and the provision of information to customers was often unreliable, unintelligible or unavailable. Our task was to devise a system that enabled the customer to navigate the city and use the service in an informed manner to improve customer flow and experience.
The Solution
We recognised that, due to the widely dispersed nature of the Dublin Bus network and stops, the solution would have to involve an information system made up of various parts working together to create a coherent and consistent customer experience.
As part of the solution we tackled a variety of customer touchpoints: renewed timetable designs and formats, a colour-coded ticketing system, new Trueform bus stops and the development of linear maps all combined together to offer customers the information they needed and where they needed it, to reach their final destination. A zoning system was developed for the city centre which enabled users to determine the location of the bus stops that are served by the route they require.
We also developed a practical tourist guide (or Freedom Ticket) to Dublin Bus services in a concise Zcard format, providing the customer with all the essential information required to navigate both the Tours and commuter services.
‘The Dublin Bus branding and information project was a significant undertaking, involving numerous project streams and layers of complexity, the biggest piece of identity and customer wayfinding work undertaken in the organisation’s history. While the branding work itself was of major importance, perhaps the most significant element of the project, from a customer’s perspective, was the management of information to improve their experience of the service. The city itself is the Dublin Bus depot and David and his team devised effective design solutions to create an ordered system that enabled our customers to navigate the service more easily. They worked in harmony with our processes and technical restrictions to create an effective flow of customer information through both traditional print and on-street touch points. The result has been a radically improved customer experience and elevated brand awareness. Our services are viewed as more approachable and, while the actual experience of being a bus passenger remains essentially the same, the perception of Dublin Bus services has been changed for the better. Not only that but the streetscape of our city has been improved in the process.’
Dawn Bailey, Head of Marketing & Sales at Dublin Bus
Results
The introduction of the new branding and information system has had a profound effect on the customer experience — encouraging greater uptake of the service and improving Dublin Bus’s overall brand perception and rating. What was once seen as a confusing and unapproachable service, now offers its customers information in a considered and coherent way.
