Usability problems: thetrainline.com

Note: This is post is one in a series of usability posts. To read my explanation about what usability is click here.

Thetrainline.com website allows you to search for train times for the UK rail network. On the surface of it, the site is quite well designed and simple to use. There is one major issue that really annoys me. It won’t allow me to search for train times “in the past”.

At this point I can imagine some puzzled faces as people read this and think “why would you want to search for a train in the past”. Well, there are a few times when that would be useful. However, the problem is compounded by the fact that the website only allows searching in 15 minute time intervals.

Let’s suppose it’s 16:31 and I’m 2 minutes away from the train station on my way home. I don't know what time the next train is and want to search to find out. At 16:31 I can only search from 16:45 onwards because 16:30 is “in the past”. That means that there may be a train at 16:39 (8 minutes from now) but I’m not allowed to see that!

Given that most of us carry a web enabled device in our pocket now, it can sometimes easier to look at train times on your mobile. This is especially true when you are at a big train station like London Victoria.

The other problem this presents is that when I’m using a tablet device (like an iPad) to search for trains, I often will leave the search results page open on the tablet. This means I can easily see when and where I have to change trains and what time the next train departs. Unfortunately, iPads sometimes aren’t very clever either so when you turn an iPad on after a period of inactivity it often doesn’t just show you the copy of the page that was already on screen – it goes to get a new copy. At this point, website will tell me that I can’t perform that search as it’s in the past!

If I want to search for a train journey in the past – would it hurt to let me? I think the website should warn me that this journey is in the past but let me see it anyway. That would seem to be a sensible solution!

Ironically, a good while after I started using this website I discovered that I can search for a time in the future and then use the “Earlier” link on the results page to go back and look at trains that are considerably in the past. This proves that the site is capable of delivering this information – it’s just the front page that prevents me which is stupid!

There is a lesson that needs to be learned from this story. Developers shouldn’t put “road-blocks” in software unless they are absolutely necessary. If someone can get around a particular road-block easily or there is no real downside to letting someone perform that function then the developers should seriously question why they’re trying to prevent it being done.

There are frequently times when it is necessary to limit what websites or software can do but these times need to be carefully considered and only be put in with good reason.