How do you design a bus experience for a traveller who doesn’t exist yet?
That was the central question behind two pieces of work we did for Arriva Netherlands. Their core challenge was to systematically explore and recognize new opportunities and gaps in the evolving service landscape for public mobility and travel information.
The first deliverable was a trend report, Door de Ogen Van, developed to support Arriva’s tender for the Zaanstreek-Waterland (ZaWa) concession in the Amsterdam Metropolitan Region. The brief was not simply to map what is happening in public transport, but to look at the traveller through shifting values, needs and expectations, not just through the lens of demographics.
We combined horizon scanning with Bespoke’s Futures Design methodology, scanning signals across macro trends, uncertainty as the new normal, sustainability pressure, an ageing and urbanising Europe, and the intent of technology, and then zooming in to what those shifts mean specifically for OV and for Arriva. The result was a set of four future traveller portraits for 2030: the Tourist, the Vulnerable/Senior, the Commuter, and the New Generation. Each was built not around who they are today, but around what they will value, expect and demand tomorrow.
Some of the sharpest insights came from sitting with tensions. The commuter who wants flexibility and wellness, not just a seat. The senior who wants radical belonging, not a bigger font on the information board. The new generation for whom MaaS is already the norm, and for whom a bus needs to earn its place in a seamlessly intermodal world.
The second deliverable was a futures workshop with Arriva’s team in the Netherlands, built around the concept of mindsets rather than target groups. The core provocation: what if Arriva stopped optimising for the average traveller and started designing from the edges?
We introduced the idea of ‘Your Mile’, moving beyond first and last mile thinking toward a journey experience that is personal, matched to the emotional state and values of the individual traveller. And we asked: what would Arriva’s services look like if they were built from ‘lego blocks’ of values, social consciousness, freedom, inclusivity, rather than demographic segments?
The workshop opened up five strategic questions for Arriva to carry forward: how to shift from target groups to mindsets, how to operationalise the Your Mile principle, how to accelerate with services that go beyond the average, which partnerships to build, and which developments to go deeper on.
Public transport is infrastructure. But it is also one of the few services that touches every kind of person, at every stage of life, in every mood. Getting its future right matters. These two projects were a reminder of why foresight belongs to this domain.
If you want to explore how futures thinking can support your organisation’s tender preparation, service design or strategic planning, get in touch.
Credits: Delivered as part of Bespoke. Role: Strategic Foresight Lead
