Xiao Yun CHANG

Biographical note
Xiao Yun Chang, a public transit enthusiast, is a researcher at the East Japan Railway Company’s Research and Development Center. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering with a specialization in Transportation from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her current research on information design addresses the usability of urban passenger railway systems for foreign visitors in Japan. She also has research experience in transportation modeling and simulation

Presentation: Examining the provision of railway transit information to foreign visitors in the Tokyo metropolitan area
Well known for its extensive network and state-of-the-art technology, the Japanese railway system has become a must-see attraction for foreign tourists and yet has not ceased to perplex them. Despite the growing use of multilingual signs, widely provided real-time train information, and in-station Information Centers equipped with English-speaking staff, visitors from abroad could still find themselves lost when navigating the railway system and encounter difficulties with obtaining and using tickets.
Motivated by the increasing inbound tourism and the upcoming 2020 Tokyo Olympics, this research aims to examine, evaluate, and improve the provision of railway transit information to foreign visitors in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area, and focuses on the railway system of JR East, the largest railway company in Japan and a global railway leader, as a case study.
We identified the key areas that strongly influence the ease-of-use of railway transit systems for foreign passengers in Japan. We have conducted interviews with a number of US visitors using the evaluation grid method to study the elements that make up desirable signs in train stations for foreign visitors. The levels of satisfaction with railway information provided in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area were studied through a survey at the Tokyo Station. We further investigated the factors contributing to successful information provision and quantified the influences of sign design on the cognitive burden of wayfinding through an online survey distributed in more than ten countries. We also employed the caption evaluation method, an interactive, in-depth interview method that allows a participant to comment while moving along a route in a train station, to evaluate the wayfinding design.
This research will contribute to the understanding of tourists’ use of public transit systems and provide a practical guide to improving the usability of urban railway systems not only in Japan but also worldwide.