OLA, one of the India's most successful startups has a lot of UI/UX problems in it's app. One of the main problem is: CLUTTER.
Apart from clutter there are a lot of other problems such as displaying the same information at various places, inconsistent user flows and random assignment of Share Rides.
Weaknesses in the app:
1) Inconsistent User Flows.
2) Displaying the same info at various places.
3) Too many options in Hamburger Menu.
4) Random assignment of Share Rides.
Description of OLA Share journey:
You will be sharing a hatchback with two more people before you reach your destination.
Depending on different conditions given below, the pick-up time can be more than 30 mins.
1) Traffic.
2) Vehicle Condition.
3) Distance from first passenger pick up to next passenger pick up.
4) Waiting time at the passenger’s pickup location.
5) Road Condition.
6) Lack of communication between driver and Passenger.
This leads to an enormous increase in the ride time with strangers.
The Share Ride begins:
Three Passengers: P1,P2 & P3.
Three different drop points: D1, D2 & D3.
We're not considering the scenario where a passenger books more than 1 seat for a single ride.
P1 booked a share ride(which is only 3 mins away), but the cab driver can be delayed because he should drop someone, pick up someone or clean the cab.
Finally, the driver is at the pick up location, after 8-10 mins and P1's journey starts.
P1's destination is 25mins away i.e., D1
The App selects such a route so that the driver gets two more pickups (P2 & P3) and cannot deviate to the shortest path. After traveling 1.5km, driver receives a booking of P2 and picks up P2, which means 1.5km of distance added to the actual route of P1.
P2's destination is 32min away i.e., D2
P1 and P2 started their journey. After travelling a couple of kms there is another booking by P3. Driver picked P3. P1 and P2 are not sure of how long the journey takes.
P1 will be dropped and after dropping P1 only we can see who’s next, depending on the route assigned by the App and if you are really out of luck, we could get another booking.
Conclusion(of current Ride Booking experience):
You have no control of your journey when you book a Share Ride.
And if you cancel the ride after 5min you are charged a certain amount irrespective of whose fault it is.
A new for Share Ride bookings(assuming that the cab service providers haven’t thought of this):
Give the options and control to the user, instead of the app, which means, let the user know the details of the cabs nearby and no. of. passengers sharing or pooling and ETA for each of the passenger and area.
P1 will reach his destination with a difference of 15min in his ETA, give or take.
P1,P2 & P3 know what is the ETA and how long they have to spend in the cab for the actual journey.
User has the control to choose the driver and book a ride.
Search for the drivers who are en route and confirm booking. User can choose from one or more cabs which will take the shortest time given all the information available to him/her.
Main Menu:
Share Ride:
Advantages:
1) You can know the person you are travelling with only after confirming your booking (security reasons).
2) Know who’s being dropped first and in how much time.
3) How many co-passengers are you travelling with (Names not displayed unless you confirm your ride).
4) Find the shortest route to your destination.
5) Show only co-passengers drop location in case the P1 dropped last or second.
Final Conclusion:
1) Better menu with less optoins in Hamburger menu.
2) Ability to choose options in Share rides. The information of Route and Passengers is already available. Just mapping to one destination is needed and considering passengers’ time should be the primary goal instead of distance from point to point.