Ridesharing Platform

Lead Product Designer

Ridesharing platform

When I joined Ridecell in 2019, I began leading the Ridesharing platform design. The platform was the software backbone and the end-user experience for simple ride-hailing operations - school and business shuttles that transported students and employees to locations around their campus.

An employee like Sarah (described below) would use the platform’s Rider app to summon a shuttle by entering her desired destination. A nearby driver receives a notification in the Driver app and is assigned the ride. That happens automatically or is conducted by an operator in the platform’s Operations Center tool. Using the information presented in the Driver app, the driver picks up the employee and transports them to their destination.

During on-site user interviews, in the form of ride-alongs, we discovered that someone like Sarah often used the shuttle to get to the campus cafeteria building. This and other repeating destinations informed the need to design a way for her to access saved locations instead of typing an address every time. Furthermore, employees remembered the building names, rather than the building addresses. This informed the design of the bookmarks feature - allow someone like Sarah to save her “home” building and any other location via aliases that can be recalled quickly within the app.

Expanding into new markets: India electric vehicle (EV) cabs, Vegas limos

The simple flow described above worked well in controlled environments like college or business campuses. But expanding into new markets meant addressing far more complicated situations and brand new use cases. When I joined the Ridesharing team they were already in the midst of expanding the platform to meet the needs of limo services and the new EV cabs market in India.

Addressing airport pick-ups

One of the unique features I designed specifically for the India EV cab companies was rider pick-up at large transportation hubs, e.g. airports, train and bus stations. The challenge with these environments is the large amount of pedestrian and vehicle traffic. In a situation with high pedestrian and vehicle traffic, it becomes impossible for passengers to identify their matched cab - they are scanning for a car in a sea of cars and people.

Cab and ride-hailing companies also experience logistical issues. Many of these companies have been forced to operate at distant lots that are nowhere near the airport terminals. This has occurred due to the increased volume of airline passengers whose rides are causing increased congestion outside the terminals.

Due to these challenges, we had to divorce the Rider app from the existing automatic rider-driver match. To optimize the pick-up process at the designated lots, the team and I came up with a PIN (Passenger Identification Number) system. Instead of automatic matching, the Rider is supplied with an app generated PIN and instructed to find and enter a pick-up waiting line. Once at the front of the line, the Rider shows the PIN to the Driver. Driver enters the number and the match is established. The ride commences.

Research on competitive solutions (reviewing case studies and conducting on-the-ground testing at US airports) indicated that passengers struggle mostly with finding the specific line for pick-up. Existing competitive solutions relied primarily on Google or Apple maps (depending on the mobile platform) to navigate the passenger. The problem with that is the lack of GPS accuracy in enclosed spaces like airports or train stations. These maps also display little to no indoor layout to help passengers get their bearings. In the apps we tested, there were also very few written instructions to guide the passenger.

For our Rider app, I designed a solution with detailed operator-managed facility maps accessible directly in the app when the rider enters Queue Mode - the term we used for the special flow activated when the rider is within a geo-fenced airport/station area. The map is also followed by a set of step-by-step instructions to help navigate the rider towards the pick-up line.

Scaling the design with a modular approach

The large transportation hub was just one of many use cases that required a divergence from the original Rider app flow. But constantly building unique flows for every customer was unsustainable for our business. We needed a system that scaled up and down according to business needs, while it also maintained consistency and usability across customers. It had to be designed in such a way, so it addresses the needs of multiple user groups who have little or no overlap.

After multiple rounds of iterations, a design emerged that could meet the criteria of old and new use cases. It also possesed the potential to scale easily with future business partner demands. In the new design, I took a modular approach - encapsulate each feature in a module or set of modules that can easily be turned on and off without sacrificing the integrity or usability of the whole app.

The modular approach also means component reuse and scalability. Each module shares a common structure - functionally and stylistically. This modularity allows for a new feature to be easily assembled from existing components during design and during development. It increases the speed of product development, while retaining consistency in style and interaction patterns. It also creates a familiarity for users - when modules work the same way, there are less user errors and less learning required. This leads to less frustration and increased satisfaction with the service.

Build once and repurpose

The mobility industry is constantly evolving and so must the Ridesharing platform. It was important to me to have a design strategy for the future growth of our products. The modular approach has the promise to streamline innovation and feature development for the platform’s Rider app. It reduces the amount of engineering hours by introducing reusable components - build once and repurpose. It also reduces the amount of design hours - a design system with flexible components puts new design concepts and iterations on the fast track.