The winners of Nordic Public Transport Design Award

The winners of the Nordic Public Transport Design Award were announced for the first time at the InformNorden conference in Reykjavík last Thursday, September 17^th. All the Nordic countries could nominate two projects, one in the field of “Digital service and wayfinding” and the other in the field of “Accessibility” in a broad context. The jury came from all the Nordic countries participating in the conference. In the jury were: Suss Forssman Thullberg, Sweden/SL, Sian Ambrose, Norway/Ruter, Kim Gjedsted, Denmark/Movia, Eeva Jakobsson, Finland/HSL and Kamilla Dögg Gudmundsdottir, Iceland/Straeto.

Metro for everyone

In the category Accessibility, the jury decided to award the Nordic Public Transport Design award to SL for their submission C30 Metro – a metro for everyone. SL bult a new metro vehicle, C30, based on various customers evaluation where a full-scale model was built where proposals for solutions could be visualized and evaluated before series production started.

In the jury notes it says:

The best of the best example of how a design process driven by customer-orientation and customer-participation, results in a vehicle where design elements and digital solutions create a metro for all in real life.

More flexibility in commuting

In the category Digital service and wayfinding, the jury decided to award HSL the Nordic Public Transport Design award for their submission More flexibility in commuting with the renewed HSL commuter benefits. HSL provided a service called B2B service where employers can grant their employees a digital commuter benefit for public transportation in the HSL area. Employees can utilize the ticket in the HSL app, and the ticket is billed from the employer.

The jury notes:

The best of the best example of how a customer-oriented, digital solution increases both simplicity and cost-effectiveness in commuting. And most important of all, a solution that raises the numbers of travelers, making public transport grow in the “New Normal.”

Design is a major factor, both in the real world of public transport and the digital world, and the goal is to make the service more accessible, convenient and aesthetic for users. It is therefore long overdue to pay this topic respect with the Nordic Public Transport Design Award and hopefully the award will grow and become an annual event at the InformNorden conference.