Troski App Completion

A multimodal transit companion for Accra commuters — built to turn the daily guesswork of trotro queues, terminal waits, and cash fares into one calm routine: open the app, see your queue, tap to pay, go.

Troski takes its name from the trotro — the privately-run minibuses that move most of Accra to and from work every day. The system runs on the city's energy, but it runs on guesswork too: queue depth at a terminal is invisible until you're standing in it, fares are cash-only and rarely exact, and a single cross-town trip can mean stitching together a bus, an okada and a taxi with nothing to tell you which combination actually gets you there fastest. I was asked to design the app every regular trotro rider has wished existed — one that replaces the guessing with knowing, before they've even left the house.

I built Troski around three simple promises that ended up shaping everything else: show the wait before the commuter leaves home, replace loose change with a wallet that just works at the bus door, and let one search bar plan a trip across every mode in the city — bus, okada, train, taxi, van, even a chartered ride — so picking how to get somewhere takes seconds, not a conversation with a stranger at the station.

23 of 30 riders interviewed across Tema and Adum stations named 'not knowing how long the queue is' as their single biggest source of commute stress — ranked above traffic, weather, and fare cost combined.

People weren't afraid of the trip — they were afraid of not knowing. So the very first thing Troski shows a new user, before a single route is searched, is live queue depth and bay status for the terminals nearest them. 'Know your queue before you leave' became more than a tagline — it's the literal first promise the product makes, on the very first onboarding screen.

Riders estimated losing GH₵4–6 a week to 'no change' situations alone — drivers rounding fares up, conductors short-changing in the rush, or riders simply not boarding because they couldn't pay the exact amount.

I designed the Troski Wallet to be the default, not an add-on: top up once from a card or mobile money, then tap to pay or scan the driver's code at the door. No counted coins, no rounding arguments — just a balance that's always one glance away from the home screen, and a receipt for every fare paid.

In moderated sessions, 8 of 10 participants opened a maps or transit app already certain of their destination — and completely undecided on how they'd get there. Mode came second. Always.

So I rebuilt search around the destination, not the vehicle. Type where you're going once, and Troski quotes every way to get there — bus, okada, train, taxi, van, even a charter — ranked by time, cost and live traffic, with a single 'Go now' that commits to the best option without another tap.

Troski — screen 2

Troski — screen 3

Troski — screen 4

Troski — screen 5

Troski — screen 6

Troski — screen 7

Troski — screen 8

Troski — screen 9

Troski — screen 10