CLIENT:
Swiftly
EXPERIENCE:
User Interviews, Design
TOOLS
DOVETAIL, FIGMA, LOOM
Route Groups
about.
Route Groups are a way for transit agencies to organize subsets of routes within their system. Route Groups are typically created by type (commuter, local, express) or by geographic area. They help agencies view and manage their network in a way that aligns with how they actually operate on the ground.
Before this feature was launched, Swiftly employees had to manually set up route groups for each agency which was a time-consuming, hands-on process that didn’t scale well. Our goal was to "SaaSify" the experience and empower users to create and manage their own groups, reducing the need for technical support and making the process faster and more flexible.
To kick off the project, I partnered with my project manager to dive into discovery. We combed through support tickets, user feedback, and customer complaints to understand where the friction was. We also collaborated closely with a test agency, using their input to shape the design and functionality of the new tool before rolling it out more broadly.
the challenge.
While Route Group requests made up a small percentage of overall support tickets (about 3%), they affected a large portion of our customer base. That meant we needed to build something useful and intuitive, but also lightweight and cost-effective from an engineering standpoint.
A few key challenges we had to solve:
Inconsistent data formatting: Each agency had its own way of structuring route data, so we needed to design a system that could handle a wide variety of formats going forward.
Unmet mental models: Agencies already thought in terms of route groupings and often asked how they could reflect those groupings in the dashboard. To them, it felt like an obvious feature gap so we needed to meet them where they already were.
Low-effort, high-impact: From a business perspective the feature needed to offer clear value without requiring a major build. It was all about striking the right balance between utility and simplicity.
the results.
The results were clear:
Rapid adoption: Agencies quickly embraced the self-serve functionality, and we saw a 72% drop in Route Group related support tickets within three months of launch.
Pre-sale value: With the feature in place, we could now introduce Route Groups earlier in the customer journey and position it as a selling point rather than a reactive support need.
Scalable success: What started as a small and targeted rollout turned into a scalable solution that now saves time for both customers and internal teams.
testimonial.
I'm so grateful for Vanessa and how she approaches design work with us. Being able to have touch points all the way through the process really helps to frame and re-frame the issue!
Kimi Kaneshina
Product Manager
