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Leo Express

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Leo Express is a railway operator established in 2010. The company runs trains in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Poland. In addition, the company also runs buses to Poland, Germany, Austria, Southern Bohemia, and Ukraine.[1]

Customers have the option to purchase tickets through the Leo Express website or the Leo Express mobile application.[2]

Dark patterns in Leo Express website and app[edit | edit source]

Screenshot of a Leo Express menu in Slovakian. The menu shows a list of possible passenger age groups. Passengers can be added or removed with plus and minus buttons. In the screenshot, a "Youth ages 16-25" passenger has been added. It is not visually clear that this passenger can be clicked on to choose a discount.
Screenshot of Leo Express passenger and discount menu. It is not visually clear that the option "Youth ages 16-25" (Slovak: Mľadý 16-25 rokov 1) is selectable.

Obstruction of 100% discount fare[edit | edit source]

In Slovakia, certain groups of people (children, students, seniors, etc.) have the right to register a passenger card that enables them to use certain railway services for free. Some of Leo Express's services fall into this category.[3]

To make use of the 100% discount fare on Leo Express trains, customers have to:[4]

  1. Register an account, if they are using the mobile application
  2. Change the language setting to Slovakian on the app or website
  3. In the passengers menu, enable fares of the Podunasjko region (Slovak: Podunajské tarify)
  4. In the passengers menu, enable discounts (Slovak: Zľavové preukazy)
    • If steps 3 and 4 are done out of order, the discount will be disabled
  5. Add a passenger corresponding to their age group and click on said passenger (this option is greyed out, but is clickable)
  6. Select discount within submenu
  7. Click confirm

By contrast, the same system implemented by ZSSK (Železničná Spoločnosť Slovensko, English: Railway Company of the Slovak Republic):[5]

  1. At checkout, select passenger age group
  2. Select discount (international discounts are available regardless of language settings)
  3. Proceed with purchase
Screenshot of the checkout page of the railway company ZSSK. A passenger with the traits "Youth ages 16-25" and "ISIC Card activated by Slovakian school" has been added. There is an option to add other passengers and an option to proceed with the ticket purchase. The visual layout is more customer-friendly and legible in contrast to the previous image.
Screenshot of ZSSK checkout page with the same discount selected as the above image. Note the lack of submenus and the discount checkbox being enabled by default.

It is also notable that Leo Express customers have to select their discount before searching for a connection and have no option to change it during the purchase.

Fishing for personal data[edit | edit source]

Within the app, an option to save the users phone number is enabled during each checkout. To proceed with checkout, the user either has to fill in their phone number or disable this option every time they purchase a ticket.

References[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Express
  2. ↑ https://www.leoexpress.com/en/about-us/mobile-app
  3. ↑ https://uzitocna.pravda.sk/ako-vybavit/clanok/693300-vlaky-zadarmo-nie-su-pre-vsetkych-kto-ich-moze-vyuzit/
  4. ↑ https://www.leoexpress.com/sk
  5. ↑ https://predaj.zssk.sk/passenger
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