Who are we designing for? Rethinking passenger experience for diverse requirements

Travel can be empowering, freeing and confidence-building - but it can also be stressful, exhausting and exclusionary. When physical, digital or systemic barriers are present, the passenger experience become something very different. And what about the journeys people never make at all, because the system wasn’t designed with them in mind? In this episode we explore what an inclusive journey really looks like - beyond step-free access and signage. We talk about anxiety, confidence invisible barriers, lived experience, and the gap between passengers and not-yet passengers. From ethnographic research at a major UK rail station to community-led design for calm spaces, this is a practical, honest look at how transport systems can evolve from simply moving people to genuinely supporting them. Our first guests are Alayne McDonald, Community Rail Development Manager, and Bee Clark, Access and Inclusion Lead, both at Oxfordshire Community Rail Partnership (OxCRP). OxCRP is a grassroots organisation working to strengthen communities’ relationship with rail and public transport across 22 stations in the county, with a particular focus on empowering underrepresented groups through travel confidence programmes and inclusive research. Mima worked with OxCRP to develop a community-led technical requirements document for the design of station-based calm spaces - designated areas within train stations designed to provide a restorative environment for individuals experiencing sensory overload. We’re also joined by Anne Spaa, Senior Innovation Consultant at Connected Places Catapult. Anne leads engagement and impact work for the Station Innovation Zone, an innovation test bed at Bristol Temple Meads where SMEs trial technologies to improve the passenger experience. She has also taken on the lead position for the Scaling Innovation Programme, delivered as part of the National Centre for Accessible Transport (NCAT), which is shaping the future of accessible travel for disabled people across the UK. We discuss how evidence-based design and ethnographic research - including passenger intercept interviews, journey shadowing and community workshops - can uncover the barriers, pain points and feelings that shape how people experience transport interchanges. We hear how OxCRP’s Travel Proficiency Certificate is empowering disabled people to see public transport as a genuine choice, and why inclusive placemaking at stations means thinking about the role these spaces play in community health and wellbeing, not just transit. Anne shares how the Connected Places Catapult bridges the gap between innovators, industry and the public sector - turning research into tangible solutions like Aubin, a journey planner app for neurodivergent passengers that emerged from the Station Innovation Zone programme. And we explore the accessibility ROI question: how do we move from purely financial return-on-investment models to socioeconomic ones that capture the true, long-term value of inclusive design in public transport? A compelling conversation about why accessible design in transport isn’t about giving extra tools to those already disabled by the system - it’s about changing the system itself. You can read the complete episode transcript and explore additional resources here: https://mimagroup.com/the-redesign-podcast -- Mima is a human-centric, inclusive design consultancy specialising in helping clients improve customer experience across transport and destinations. Led by research, we consult on strategy, improve accessibility and help your customers find their way. https://mimagroup.com/