The Result:
High-fidelity prototype of the RideShair booking experience, with a deeper understanding of users.
Sector:
Travel
My Role:
UX Designer, UI Designer, Interaction Designer
When:
2019-2020
Background:
RideShair is a white-label, digital platform that enables airline passengers to share taxis to and from the airport. As a pre-paid and pre-booked service, it aims to provide a cheaper, faster, reliable and more sustainable mode of travel.
RideShair is an early stage Irish start-up. I worked with them on designing their booking experience to meet both user and business needs.
Jan 2020 - 4 min read
Research Techniques:
User Survey, User Interviews, Competitive Benchmarking & Usability Testing
While I worked with RideShair specifically on their booking experience, I considered the entire user journey. This enabled me to uncover significant pain points across various touchpoints, that could be addressed at the time of booking.
User Survey
I conducted an online survey with 26 participants that represented the target audience: Solo travellers, business travellers, and budget holiday makers. It concentrated on understanding people’s motivations towards ridesharing and identifying potential pain points.
Key
Findings
38%had previously shared a ride with someone
they didn’t know using apps such as Uber and Lyft.
65%had not previously shared a taxi with someone
from their flight.
80%would consider sharing a taxi with someone from their flight.
People arrange their transport to & from the airport at different stages. The most common were as ‘when booking flights’, ‘a few weeks in advance’, ‘within a week of departure’, ‘the day before’, ‘last minute’ and ‘in situ’.
For those who had previously shared a taxi with someone from their flight, these a the following issues they had encountered: ‘being overcharged’, ‘miscommunication’, ‘a language barrier’, ‘not feeling safe’ and ‘not getting dropped of at the exact destination’.
‘Reduced fare’ was the most common reason why people would choose to rideshare. Other notable reasons were convenience, safety and organisation.
User Interviews
I conducted 5 in depth interviews that were centred around understanding people’s needs and goals during both the booking and the ridesharing experience.
Key
Insights:
Booking
experience“When booking, I’d want to see both shared price and typical price.”
“I would want to view the route and how long it will take.”
“it would potentially be a great way to meet people when travelling alone. I’d like to book into a taxi with other travellers my own age and who are going to the same destination.”
“I’d like to see photographs, names and ratings of the drivers and other passengers.”
Ridesharing Experience:
“I shared before and it was unreliable and there was no-one to ask for help or complain to.”
“Ridesharing would make me feel better about flying because I could lower my carbon emissions.”
“Airports can be stressful and hard to navigate so I would need to know where exactly to meet the driver. A map might be helpful. Or a way to contact the driver.”
“If I was delayed would the taxi wait for me?”
“I would like to see and map of the route in real time so I know I’m not being taken astray.”
Personas
Competitive Benchmarking
Customer Journey Map
Prototyping The Booking Experience
I synthesised the data collected and translating findings into coherent design solutions in tangible form at low- and high-fidelity.
Solutions
Design for safetyFemale only ridesharing groups, driver ratings, choose driver language & view driver’s name & vehicle registration.
Design an efficient booking experienceReduce cognitive load by only including necessary information and steps that the user needs to complete their goal, include recommended groups to speed up the booking process (cheapest, fastest, women’s only, eco-friendly),
& allow users to take control of their payment method.
Design an efficient ridesharing experience (elements that can be addressed during the booking experience)Users with checked baggage are not be able to book into the same group as those without, users are able to save booking details, message the driver & view vehicle registration.
Task Flow Diagram
Paper Prototype (within Ryanair)
Low-Fidelity Prototype (within Ryanair)
Usability Testing Insights
Successes:
- Checked baggage is a good idea.
- Enjoyed CTAs ‘LET’s GO’ & ‘Welcome Aboard’ & personalised content. - Liked the idea of recommended groups. - Easy to nagivage back to desired location. - System status is clear throughout.
Room for improvement:
- Flight details too small.
- Information overload on the groups page.- Female only icon does not stand out enough.
- Not clear that you can click the Filters.
- ‘Create new group’ button is unclear.
- ‘Create new group’ placement makes it look as if it’s the primary action.
- Create group was time consuming and choosing times was confusing.
- ‘Time before taxi cut-off’ is confusing.
- Doesn’t like the idea of uploading passport. - Would like more group recommendations.
- Would like to see an image of the driver & vehicle. - Suggested ‘saved places’ feature on home page.
- Suggested the ability to share flight details with contacts.
Iteration
Testing uncovered usability problems, particularly cognitive overload, accessibility issues and visual
hierarchy issues.
During the next iteration I paid much attention to 4 guiding principles: ‘Less is more’, ‘include negative space’, ‘design for legibility and readability’ and ‘match users mental models’.
Low-Fidelity Prototype
High-Fidelity PrototypeLow-Fidelity Prototype
High-Fidelity Prototype
Low-Fidelity Prototype
High-Fidelity Prototype
Usability Testing
Insights
Successes:
On average users were able to complete tasks 40 seconds faster using the high-fidelity prototype. These were some other things they said:
- The taxi group page is very clean.
- Navigation and completing goals is easy.
- Image of the destination. adds a sense of excitement.
- Liked the swiping interaction on groups and cards.
- Vehicle registration and in-built messaging is handy.
Room for improvement:
- Input for ‘pick up’ and ‘destination’ could be clearer.
- Should ‘female only’ be renamed as ‘women's only’?
- Doesn’t like having to select gender.
- Suggested ‘enable finger login’ for speed.