Mobile App Adoption Barriers in Public Transport: A User Research and UX Analysis Study

Why do mobile apps struggle despite high user satisfaction? This research reveals how a Swiss transport company's app faced low adoption due to user unawareness, app friction, and capability underestimation, and the solutions that don't require major technical fixes.

Taoufik Brinis, 2025

Art der Arbeit Bachelor Thesis
Auftraggebende Anonymous
Betreuende Dozierende Vitacco, Jacqueline
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A Swiss transport company launched a new mobile app to replace their older system, implementing automatic user migration. Despite significant investment and seamless technical performance, adoption rates remained below expectations. Meanwhile, their complementary company application continued thriving. This puzzling situation showed users embracing one app while avoiding its counterpart, despite both serving related transport functions.
Mixed-methods research using a sequential explanatory technique, combining quantitative surveys with follow-up qualitative interviews. Applied Technology Acceptance Model and Task-Technology Fit frameworks to analyze user behavior. Investigated demographic patterns, satisfaction levels, and competitive positioning against market leaders. This sequential approach enabled interview insights to build upon and explain survey findings, revealing hidden barriers to adoption.
Research uncovered three critical findings. First, nearly half of existing customers remained unaware of the app's existence, indicating communication gaps rather than product deficiencies. Users consistently confused the transport app with other company platforms due to similar branding elements. Second, feature invisibility emerged as the primary barrier. Users underestimated existing capabilities, unaware the app already offered nationwide journey planning, multimodal transport options, and language switching. Many requested features that were already available but hidden or poorly communicated, creating artificial competitive disadvantages. Third, integration friction dominated user complaints. The requirement to switch between separate company apps for different transport functions frustrated many respondents. However, existing users demonstrated high satisfaction, proving the underlying product succeeded when properly discovered. Solutions include targeted marketing, enhanced onboarding, and contextual integration. These require minimal technical investment while addressing core barriers through better communication.
Studiengang: Business Information Technology (Bachelor)
Keywords Mobile app adoption, User experience research, Transport technology, Public transport, Adoption barriers, Technology acceptance model
Vertraulichkeit: vertraulich
Art der Arbeit
Bachelor Thesis
Auftraggebende
Anonymous
Autorinnen und Autoren
Taoufik Brinis
Betreuende Dozierende
Vitacco, Jacqueline
Publikationsjahr
2025
Sprache der Arbeit
Englisch
Vertraulichkeit
vertraulich
Studiengang
Business Information Technology (Bachelor)
Standort Studiengang
Basel
Keywords
Mobile app adoption, User experience research, Transport technology, Public transport, Adoption barriers, Technology acceptance model