Crowded platforms, long queues, noisy compartments, busy bridges, and a never-ending spirit are the most common visuals at any station in Mumbai and its local trains. EMUs, or electrical multiple units, which are otherwise known as the lifeline of Mumbai—Mumbai Local, carry about 7 million people daily.

The density makes these bridges, ticket counters, platforms, train compartments, etc. unique threshold spaces. The density forces the population to behave in a certain manner; over a course of time, these behaviours transform into habits and then into unsaid rules or norms after being accepted by the masses.

The process by which new behaviours become automatic is called habit formation. Old habits are hard to break and new habits are hard to form because the behavioural patterns we repeat are imprinted in our neural pathways, but it is possible to form new habits through repetition (habits, wikipedia).

One of the countries that faces a similar problem with density in local transport is Japan. The Tokyo Metro transports 8.7 million people daily. They manage the punctuality by assigning official pushers, who push the passengers to squeeze in so that the doors of the train can be shut. The other city with high public transport use is London. One rule that has been developed over time is that when you use the escalators to enter or exit the station, the right lane is the ‘fast lane'. You cannot stand in the lane if you are not willing to climb along with the movement of the escalators.

People usually want an easy way out of anything. If the bridges are too crowded, why not jump the tracks (as seen in India)? Infrastructure planning plays a crucial role in determining these habits. The moment you allow people to jump onto tracks and move to another platform, you give them the leeway to perform such tasks. On seeing this habit, the railway authorities erected fences between the tracks,dissuading commuters from jumping tracks. This did work for a while, but then people started to jump over them through the train gates on the other side of the platform.

“Summer Internship at Thatz it” is an interaction design project by Varun Mevada (Batch 2015-17) carried out at IDC, IIT Bombay. The work is a P1-level project in which Varun reflects on his internship experience at Thatz It, exploring how design principles are applied in a real-world tech/service environment. The presentation documents how tasks, challenges, insights, and design thinking during the internship contributed to Varun’s learning—showing the interface between academic learning and industry practice.

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The current population of Mumbai stands at 12 million people. The density of the city stands at 20,637 sq/km, making it one of the most densely populated cities in the world. For a city with these statistics to function efficiently, it needs enormous effort from the civic authorities. The city’s lifeline—Mumbai’s local train—is the crucial mode of public transport. It aids 7.4 million people per day [social cops]. Considering the amount of traffic that uses this service, ticketing is a core aspect of the entire operation. Today, the modes of ticketing have expanded, but there is still a huge amount of load on the traditional ticket windows.

Currently, there are five different methods to book an unreserved travel ticket for the Mumbai local, but most of them remain unexplored by the audiences due to various reasons such as lack of knowledge, intimidation by technology, and the low standards of the automatic ticket vending machines. The project focuses on exploring these modes of ticketing and their impact in the real world and intervening in the ticketing system, trying to improve it and reduce the user's effort.

In today’s digital age, data is considered to be prime information. Huge data sets can provide immeasurable insights in terms of visualising trends.

In a populous country like India, crime has been one of the major matters of concern. The traditional methods to collect and store data prove to be time-consuming given today’s age and amount of information. Various mediums and methods of storing and retrieving data can save the day for the governing bodies.

There are huge benefits of data visualisation technology to the police force as well as the community. These visualisations help them see trends over the years in no time, and they can see the bigger picture. Without the ability to see the bigger picture, critical information can be missed, which can lead to incorrect or no action at all. This helps them prepare for any suspicious activity or crime. Strategic reports, tactical reports, and visual analytics can be swiftly created and viewed across multiple platforms.

When a single channel of information is layered across other layers such as traffic, geospatial, and weather, it can lead to deeper insights and co-relations between events.