TfL Care Leaver Oyster Card
Ishwarya Suresh
TfL Care Leaver Oyster Card
Inclusive UX for a TfL campaign that extended 50% travel discounts to care leavers aged 18-25, with a focus on dignity, clarity, and adoption.
Client
Novacroft / Transport for London (TfL)
Role
Lead UX Designer
Timeline
Aug · Sep 2023
Tools
Figma, Wireframing, High-fidelity prototyping
Collaborators
1 UX Designer (lead), cross-functional collaboration with content, dev, and TfL stakeholders
Industry
Public Sector / Transport
Discovery
Before any design work, I mapped the existing user journey and audited it against WCAG 2.1 AA standards. I also reviewed care leaver advocacy reports and comparable application journeys to understand what was failing and for whom.
80K+ Young people leaving care in the UK each year
50% TfL travel discount available to eligible care leavers aged 18-25
7 Friction points identified in the existing application journey
3 WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility issues identified and addressed
The problem
Care leavers are among the most socioeconomically vulnerable young people in the UK. After leaving the care system at 18, many face significant barriers to employment, education, and independence. In cities where public transport is the only affordable way to get around, access to a travel discount is not a perk: it is a practical lifeline.
Transport for London's Care Leaver Photocard offers 50% off all TfL travel for care leavers aged 18-25. But the existing application journey had a problem: it was unclear, inaccessible in places, and created unnecessary friction for a group that already faces multiple barriers in navigating official processes.
How might we design an application experience that a care leaver can navigate independently, without a support worker, and without feeling stigmatised?
Impact & outcomes
7 / 7 Friction points resolved
3 WCAG 2.1 criteria addressed
2 Stakeholder iteration rounds
2 months Delivery timeline
Design process
Interviewed TfL programme managers and Novacroft product leads to understand existing process gaps and compliance constraints. Identified 7 friction points in the existing journey.
Mapped the end-to-end application journey from the TfL photocard landing page through to payment confirmation, and audited each step against WCAG 2.1 AA.User flow diagram: the complete redesigned application journey
Rewrote all application copy in plain English. Cardholder details screen
Redesigned the application flow to surface requirements upfront.Contact your borough screen
Built high-fidelity flows in Figma. Redesigned step indicator
Designed every step with specific, actionable recovery guidance. Photo upload screen
Outcomes & impact
The redesigned care leaver photocard journey simplified a previously friction-heavy process into a clear, accessible, mobile-optimised experience.
✓All 7 friction points identified in the journey map resolved through design, content, and IA changes
✓3 WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility improvements implemented
✓Full end-to-end prototype delivered and validated across 2 stakeholder iteration rounds within a 2-month timeline
Key takeaway
"The voice of a service is part of its design. Changing 'the applicant must provide' to 'you'll need to upload' is not copyediting. It is deciding who the service is talking to, and whether that person feels they belong in it."
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Posted May 31, 2026
Redesigned a user-friendly application for care leavers to obtain travel discounts.
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