The document summarizes a brainstorming session by a group discussing challenges with public transportation in India and potential solutions. The group defined their "Wicked Problem" as reducing congestion and making travel by public transportation more comfortable. They identified issues such as increasing population, infrastructure costs, and behavioral problems. Potential solutions focused on redesigning aspects like ticket booking, seating, etiquette, queuing, storage, sensory experiences, signage, train infrastructure, timing, pricing, and more. The group created an idea pitch, empathy map, and user journey to explore solutions further.

1.
STRATEGIC DESIGN MANAGEMENT
Brainstorming Session
Ayushi (024), Sayantani (068), Shalaka (158), Vaidyanthan (175), Vyom (179)
INTRODUCTION
There are several challenges of urban living, one of which is negotiating travel everyday. While
all state governments are now enthusiastically launch metro rail services, one after the same,
the public commute experience isn’t pleasurable and thereby discourages usage leading to
continued reliance on private transportation and thereby increasing environmental damage in
an over populated country in India.
Our group worked on this and broke this down further.
1. Defining our “Wicked Problem”
The Wicked Problem we came up with is, ​‘Reducing Congestion and making travel by public
transportation more comfortable’.
This societal problem is inherently wicked as:
- There are multiple explanations to this problem such as increasing population,
emigration, reducing space, expensive infrastructure needed, as well as behavioural
problems such as inability to follow queues, crossing tracks and jostling other
passengers.

2.
2
- The problem doesn’t have clear boundaries. It’s a private and public issue dealing with
infrastructure, society, population, civic sense and culture, all at once.
- Solving this requires full responsibility rather than just seeing one issue in isolation and
attempting to make sense of it.
- A lot of these problems are interconnected and bleed into each other such as how people
don’t pay tax but expect to have publicly funded infrastructure that is fully functional
and comfortable for millions of people.
- This problem is unique to the nation, location and nature of populace at a given time
and has no one right or scientific answer.
2. Outlining possible solutions
The possible solutions that rest in this space are to redesign some of these aspects:
- Ticket Booking Experience
- Seating Experience
- Interpersonal Etiquette
- Queuing Experience
- Luggage Storage
- Sensory Experiences such as smell, visual input
- Change in signage, boards
- Change in train’s infrastructural structure
- Change in timings, frequency, duration
- Change in Pricing, timers
Our Idea Pitch, Empathy Map and User Journey delve deeper into this.

3.
3
Appendix: Post - Its from Class

4.
4