Spor Lead product designer, 2025

Rebooking a cancelled train in under a minute.

Spor sells train tickets across Denmark. When a train was cancelled, the app showed an error and a phone number. I led the redesign of that moment, from research to launch.

Role: Lead product designer
Team: 1 product manager, 4 engineers, 1 researcher
Time: Six months, 2025
Platforms: iOS and Android

02In short

The problem: Half of the travellers on a cancelled train gave up on the app and queued at the desk.
What I did: Research on 14 disrupted trains, the new flow, the prototype tests and the design system parts.
The result: 81% now rebook in the app, in 40 seconds on average.

03The problem

When a train was cancelled, the old app showed a red error and a phone number. People stood on the platform refreshing the page.

Half of them gave up and queued at the ticket desk. On bad days the support line had a 40 minute wait.

Waiting room, Odense. People waited six minutes on average before asking anyone what to do.

04What we heard

We rode 14 disrupted trains with travellers and read 600 support calls.

I didn't know if I should wait here or run to the desk.

Commuter, Copenhagen H

Don't show me nine trains. Show me the one I should take.

Traveller, Odense

I booked that window seat three weeks ago.

Traveller, Aarhus

Tell people first.Most learned about the cancellation from the departure board, not from us.

Give one good option.On a cold platform, nobody compares nine trains.

Keep their seat.A window seat matters more than ten minutes.

05The decision

Show every train, or choose one for them?

The full list, sorted by timeWhat the old app did. Complete, and slow: people took 3.4 minutes and a third picked a worse train.

One train kept for you, the rest one tap awayShippedWe hold a seat on the best next train and show it first. In tests, people decided in 40 seconds.

Rebook automaticallyThe fastest, but people stopped trusting us when we chose a train without asking.

Why: It does the work for people and leaves them in control. In five rounds of tests it was the only option that was both fast and trusted.
What it cost: Frequent travellers missed the overview at first, so after the beta we added “See all trains” under the main button.

06Try the flow

The shipped flow, rebuilt as a prototype. The buttons work: take the 08:40, pick a seat, get the ticket.

07Before and after

08Results

We shipped to 10% of travellers in March and to everyone in May. The support line stopped being the first thing people tried on bad days.

81%of travellers now rebook in the app, up from 52%

38%fewer calls to support on disrupted days

4.6App Store rating, up from 3.9

Before52%

After81%

Share of travellers on a cancelled train who rebooked in the app, March to September 2025.

09Timeline

24 weeks from the first interview to launch.

Research6 weeksConcepts4 weeksTests, five rounds6 weeksBuild and launch8 weeks

10What comes next

Tell people before they leave home. Half of cancellations are known 30 minutes ahead, and the best rebooking is the one you do from your sofa.

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