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Future of transport

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This project bagged the first place in the service design challenge organised by IBM ix, India Service Design Community of Practice. I played the role of a researcher and UX designer with two other colleagues.

Transport as a whole

Transport infrastructure is one of the most important factors for a country's progress. India, the seventh largest nation, has one of the largest transport sectors. But not one without its own set of challenges. Throughout our research, we have looked at the cab aggregator - UBER to understand the primary service they provide, their efficiency and propose a business model that would help them aid the public transportation system. 

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Getting from one place to another

MEET PRIYA

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Introducing Priya

Priya is a software engineer and stays with her parents in Bangalore, 17 kms away from office. During the weekend, she enjoys going out with her friends, who sadly live on the other end of the city. She does not own any vehicle of her own, as she just started her job and cannot afford a car of her own. Booking a ride to work everyday frustrates Priya. It takes forever to book a ride, and she often toggles between Uber, Ola and Rapido, but to no avail. Moreover, as she often commutes long distances during rush hours, the trips are heavy on her pocket. ​There is also no last mile connectivity via public transport, so she rules that out as an option.

MEET SHEKHAR

Shekhar has been a ride partner (driver) for Uber for the past 5 years, who is very keen to support his family. He enjoyed driving, so he bought a car on loan, and chose to work with Uber because of the initial benefits they offered him. He starts his day early so that he can complete his quota of rides, and enjoys conversing with his passengers. Generally, Shekhar enjoys his job - he can set his own hours and has control of his vehicle. But money is a source of stress - post COVID-19, Uber increased commissions and reduced benefits. With the rising fuel prices and cost of living in the city, he is also worried about paying his EMIs on time. Moreover, the traffic gets on his nerves. Long distance rides take him far away from his home and it takes him hours to reach back.

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Introducing Shekhar

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BOOKING A RIDE

Mismatch in goals of rider & driver leads to increased wait time and frequent cancellations of trips.

BOARDING THE RIDE

Although it is easy enough to board a cab for abled people, it is difficult for disabled or very old people.

DURING THE RIDE

Cab is often stuck in traffic, which bothers both rider and driver. Walking seems faster than taking a cab.

POST RIDE PAYMENTS

Rising costs of cab rides, commission rates & other expenses demotivates both riders and drivers.

tree of dependency

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Depleting fossil
fuel resources

Environmentally
unsustainable to burn fossil fuels

Low barriers to entry in the ride-hailing taxi market

Many hurdles to EV adoption in India

Intense price competition in the market

Massive increase in urban population in the next few years

Low customer loyalty/low customer switching cost

Climate
change

Changing trends in the transport industry

Rising fuel
costs

Unfair wages &
no benefits
to drivers

Narrow and
unplanned roadways

Cabs are becoming expensive, so people buy their own cars which adds to traffic

Increase in vehicles on the road

Ill-maintained roads causing slow moving traffic

Surge pricing
drives up costs
of travel

Drivers do not want to go on long distance trips

Cabs are not very accessible to people with disabilities, pets etc.

Long wait time when booking cabs, especially in remote areas and during rush hours

Lots of traffic & pollution to deal with on the ride

Uber does not exist in a bubble. Many systemic forces within and outside the transport industry influence the problems it and its stakeholders face in the present, and have the power to determine its future.

challenges of the system 

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CONFLICT IN UBER’S & DRIVER’S
BUSINESS OBJECTIVES

Uber’s revenues are directly proportional to the number of trips facilitated, so it continuously scales its business with more cabs and drivers.


Drivers want to maximise their earnings per hour. But as popular areas in cities get saturated with more drivers, revenue per driver decreases, forcing drivers to seek less popular areas to find customers, which they don’t.

POST PANDEMIC DIFFICULTIES

Uber’s cutomer-first approach ensured low costs for riders in an extremely competitive market with low customer loyalty.

Prioritisation of customers over driver welfare led to price & compensation cuts for drivers, which was highly exacerbated by COVID-19 difficulties. This increased fallouts between Uber & their drivers, ultimately leading to many drivers quitting.

ECONOMIC COMPETITION

The ride-sharing and cab market has low barriers to entry. Moreover, it has very intense price competition. Because prices are similar across most of the apps (Uber, Ola, Rapido), users switch between apps quite easily. This means there is low customer loyalty.

Problems faced by both riders & drivers affect Uber’s revenue and growth. But their own business model is broken and unsustainable, also leading to problems which do not bode well for its future.

need of the hour

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To alleviate the problems faced by each stakeholder, we must identify current needs and tweak the business strategy to accommodate for the needs of the present and prepare for the future...

CUSTOMER (RIDER)

Safe, timely, reliable, cost-efficient modes of transportation that are accessible to all walks of life.

Earn a stress free livelihood, with fair compensation and benefits.

DRIVER

UBER

Maintain a profitable, sustainable business.

Tackle dissatisfactions of customers and drivers.

Ensure longevity of business over changing times and trends.

CHANGE IN BUSINESS STRATEGY

Customer comes first (always).

Customers AND drivers are important.

By providing better quality services to the customer and more profit earning options & Benefits for the drivers.

Aggressive expansion & putting more vehicles on the road (so far, within the same vertical).

Portfolio Expansion

Instead of simply increasing number of vehicles we are proposing diversifing the kind of services offered.

Asset-light and (mostly) unregulated vehicles.

Private-public partnerships to improve
transportation overall.

Creating synergy between public - private tranportation to have hassle-free and sustainable journey experience.

future of transport

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MaaS (MOBILITY AS SERVICE)

Integrating multi-modal forms of transport that focuses on the destination rather than the mode of transport. It enables information, transport & payment through a single platform. Efficient use of transport by investing in current & future infrastructure and technology.

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ACTIVE TRANSPORT

Investing in and encouraging modes of active transport (human powered transport) like walking, cycling, scootering etc.

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TECHNOLOGY

Fortifying the transport industry with improved technology to mitigate concerns of traffic congestion, information on time/speed/availability of transport, plan routes etc.

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TRANSPORT ACCESSIBILITY

Accounting for disabled, elderly, low-income and minority communities while planning accessibility to transportation.

ideation process

ECOSYSTEM MAP

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HMW QUESTIONS

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OPPORTUNITY CANVAS

Opportunity canvas

PROPOSING - UBER CONNECT

The future of transportation is going to be determined by factors such as environmental sustainability, MaaS going mainstream, focus on accessibility, and incorporation of data-driven technology to make travel easier for everyone. Uber Connect seeks to become a long-term player in the public transport space. In collaboration with the government, it aims to make travel timely, efficient, affordable and accessible to all. This service can be implemented in phases, and the ideal journey has been detailed out below.

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BOOKING A RIDE

While booking a cab, Priya sees multiple route options that incorporate public transport in her journey. She selects the most convenient one to her, and sees the app-generated QR code.

BOARDING THE RIDE

Priya decides to incorporate a metro ride into her overall journey. Her cab drops her to the nearest metro station, and Priya boards the metro using the same QR code.

DURING THE RIDE

Priya travels in the metro. Towards the end of the journey, Uber asks if she would like to book her last-mile cab to her office. Priya agrees, and her second cab is booked.

POST RIDE PAYMENTS

Priya gets into her last-mile cab using the same QR code, and is dropped at her office. She makes payments for her entire journey at once.

GOALS

• Attract and retain new, and old users of public transport.
• Reward the use of public transport and modes of active transport (ex: walking).

• Make public transport a better and more viable option for everyone in the city.

KPI's to measure impact & success

BUSINESS VALUE & SUCCESS

  • Adoption rate.

  • Reduction in carboon footprint/pollution levels.

  • Changes in revenue streams and profits.

  • Investment rates.

  • Return on Investment.

  • Number of repeat users.

  • Employee retention.

  • Contribution to economical growth and revenue.

  • Brand image and story.

USER EXPERIENCE

  • User & employee feedback

  • NPS

  • Written/oral feedback

  • Complaints registered

  • Customer Effort Score (CES)

  • Adoption rates.

  • Employee retention.

  • Number of new users & employees attracted.

  • Usage metrics

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