UX design and development
Redesigning the UK Transport Watchdog Website and Document Portal for Accessibility and Impact
This latest collaboration builds on Browser London’s long-standing partnership with Transport Focus, following our previous work on their initial website design in 2012 and user experience improvements in 2016. Having worked together through multiple iterations, we understood the unique challenges of balancing government requirements with user-centered design.
Transport Focus serves as the voice of passengers throughout the UK’s transport network, covering rail, bus, and tram services across England, Wales, and Scotland. As a government-funded watchdog, they deliver critical research, manage customer complaints, and advocate for better service across the national transportation infrastructure. If there’s a BBC news story on transport, you’re guaranteed the team at Transport Focus will have the data to support it.
The Brief
Transport Focus approached us with a clear challenge: their website had become dated, lacking modern usability while housing thousands of vital publications. The site needed to balance strict government accessibility standards with an engaging, modern design that would appeal to diverse audiences, from journalists to town planners and the general public.
The existing platform contained approximately 3,000 to 4,000 white papers and research documents on various transport topics, the platform in its state at the time wasn’t optimised for this volume of content. Browser London’s task was to redesign the platform to be more content centric and update the dated look.
The Core Aspects
The redesign was a mix of optimising for user needs, technical requirements and meeting accessibility standards.
Publication Search Engine
The Challenge: With thousands of research documents and white papers scattered across the platform, users struggled to find relevant content efficiently. The existing search functionality couldn’t handle the complexity of filtering by transport modes, publication dates, or specific criteria, making the vast research library difficult for time-pressed users.
The Solution: We developed a custom-built search portal using the powerful Algolia search engine which allows users to filter through thousands of white papers by transport modes, dates, and other criteria. This aspect of UX design required meticulous attention to accessibility standards while maintaining an intuitive interface.
Accessibility Standards
The Challenge: The existing platform fell short of the WCAG 2.2 AA accessibility standards. Screen readers and other assistive technologies couldn’t properly navigate the content, potentially excluding users with disabilities from accessing vital transport information.
The Solution: Partnering with the independent accessibility organisation Web Usability, we conducted multiple rounds of accessibility reviews and remediation to ensure compatibility with screen readers and other assistive technologies, achieving full WCAG 2.2 AA compliance.
Multi-site Architecture
The Challenge: Transport Focus needed to serve distinct regional audiences in Wales and Scotland with location-specific content and Welsh language support, but the existing single-site structure couldn’t accommodate these diverse regional needs effectively.
The Solution: We implemented a WordPress multi-site approach to create distinct yet connected experiences for the different region’s language needs. This ensured relevant regional content was easily accessible to users in different parts of the UK.
Technical Infrastructure
The Challenge: The platform regularly experienced traffic spikes reaching 26,000+ hits when referenced in major news outlets like the BBC, causing performance issues and potential downtime during critical moments when media attention was highest.
The Solution: Our DevOps implementation automatically scales server resources during these periods of high demand, ensuring the platform remains stable and responsive even during major news cycles and BBC News mentions.
Design Approach
Striking a balance between government requirements and a new refreshed design was the guiding star to our approach. We created a distinctive visual identity using arrows and a blue, black, and white color scheme that conveyed authority while remaining approachable.
The design simplifies terminology and streamlines user journeys without sacrificing personality. We maintained proper semantic markup throughout the site to ensure both accessibility compliance and strong SEO performance.
The outcome
The redesigned Transport Focus website successfully serves thousands of users monthly with a platform that elegantly balances multiple priorities:
- Content editors can easily manage the extensive publication database
- Media outlets can quickly find relevant research when developing transport-related stories
- Government officials and planners can access critical data for decision-making
- The general public can navigate transport information and submit feedback
- Regional users in Wales and Scotland can access content specific to their areas
- The site maintains perfect accessibility while providing an engaging experience
By modernising this public resource, Transport Focus can continue its role as the UK’s transport watchdog, ensuring the voice of passengers is heard clearly throughout the nation’s transportation networks.