Föli
Well planned is half done: a controlled revamp for the Föli online shop
Using public transport is an integral part of everyday life for many people in Turku. In 2025, Föli’s yellow buses carried passengers on more than 28 million journeys. A significant share of those passengers now buy their tickets and top up their travel cards through Föli’s online shop, which already handles 250,000 purchases a year.
With that volume of transactions, the service has to work reliably and seamlessly every single time. Föli therefore decided to revamp its online shop to better meet passenger needs, streamline the purchasing process and build a sustainable technical foundation for future development. The project began with careful planning, so the revamp could be carried out in a controlled and considered way.
We want buying tickets and using public transport to be easy and hassle-free for all our customer groups. More and more people are choosing the online shop as their channel, which is why we are now developing this important sales channel to better meet our customers' needs.
The current system needed a review before the revamp
The Föli shop’s current architecture is functional, but some of its components are over ten years old. Before designing anything new, it was important to understand the state and condition of the existing systems and what could realistically be expected from an upgrade.
The aims of the revamp are clear:
- Improve customer service by guiding customers from physical service points to digital channels
- Modernise the user interface and improve usability
The new Föli shop was planned in three stages
The Sofokus project consisted of three interrelated components.
The Sofokus project consisted of three connected parts.
1. Review. We carefully documented the current architecture, capabilities and logic of the Föli shop. At the same time, we assessed non-functional factors, including development practices, data protection compliance, and technical lifecycle. Sofokus IT Audit is not just a checklist; it is a process of exchanging information that forms the basis for planning a genuinely workable revamp.
2. Technical design. We drew up a high-level specification based on current capabilities and future needs. The work produced two to three implementation scenarios, giving Föli a clear basis for choosing the most suitable direction for further development, either during or after the project.
3. UX and UI design. We took a close look at the challenges, development hopes and real needs of Föli’s customers. User stories and user journeys were at the heart of the work and shaped the first version of the interface. The design drew on the extensive experience Sofokus has built over the years in designing online shops for public transport.
Sofokus was chosen as a partner for its deep industry experience
By Finnish standards, Sofokus has exceptional expertise in public transport systems and ticketing services. In the route and public transport sector, our clients have included Åbus, Savonlinja and Waltti Solutions, with whom we have been a partner since 2017. In ticketing, we have built a ticket shop for Moomin World and helped the Finnish National Gallery implement and integrate a Liveto-based solution.
Because we understand in depth how to combine bespoke software development with modern platform solutions, we can judge precisely when it is best to build something in-house and when an off-the-shelf option makes more sense.
Communication was smooth and our expectations were exceeded. The final deliverables were excellent and will certainly be useful when we move on to implementing the new Föli shop.