RideTogether | Designing Trust Into Everyday Commuting
Most commuters weren't struggling to find rides. They were struggling to trust them.
Role
UX Manager / Research Lead
Timeline
14 days - Research + Redesign · 2025
Team
1 UX Researcher
2 Designers
1 UX Writer
Primary metric
42% ↑ booking completion
27% more ride matches
OVERVIEW
The snapshot
Challenge
People liked the idea of carpooling - cheaper commutes, less traffic, shared travel - but the experience often broke down before the ride even started.
Ride matches felt unreliable, cancellations happened late, pickup coordination was confusing, and trust signals felt weak.
Approach
Led a 14-day, five-phase research engagement covering framing, interviews, synthesis, opportunity definition, and concept validation. Worked with daily commuters, drivers, and corporate employees.
Used interviews, behavioral observation, journey analysis, and marketplace benchmarking against QuickRide, BlaBlaCar, and sRide.
Result
Redesigned the booking flow around trust rather than convenience - verified profiles, route transparency, and in-app communication - lifting booking completion by 42%, ride matches by 27%, and cutting cancellations by 31%.
HERO METRIC
42%
Increase in booking completion
PROBLEM
What was breaking
Ride matches felt unreliable, and cancellations often happened late.
Pickup coordination was confusing, with unclear communication before the ride
Trust signals felt weak - users couldn't tell who they could rely on
Most users weren't asking “Can this app find me a ride?”. They were asking “Can I trust what happens next?”
DISCOVERY
How I learned it
Research framing (Day 1–2)
Interviews & behavioral observation (Day 3–6)
Synthesis & opportunity definition (Day 7–12)
Concept validation (Day 13–14)
Trust breaks before booking, not after.
Found in user interviews and behavioral observation across daily commuters and drivers
Drivers avoid uncomfortable conversations about preferences and boundaries
Found in driver interviews and journey analysis
Route transparency matters more than price
Found in workflow observation across the SOC
INSIGHTS
The moments things clicked
Trust breaks before booking
Users weren't necessarily rejecting rides - they were rejecting uncertainty.
Route transparency matters more than price
Riders cared less about cost or social features than expected - they wanted to know exactly what to expect before committing.
Analysts lack confidence in prioritization
Pre-booking conversations were enabled too late in the flow, leaving riders and drivers to resolve uncertainty after commitment instead of before.
STRATEGY
How I chose what to build
A compliance workflow so confusing, 1 in 3 users abandoned it mid-form.
A compliance workflow so confusing, 1 in 3 users abandoned it mid-form.
A compliance workflow so confusing, 1 in 3 users abandoned it mid-form.
A compliance workflow so confusing, 1 in 3 users abandoned it mid-form.
A compliance workflow so confusing, 1 in 3 users abandoned it mid-form.
A compliance workflow so confusing, 1 in 3 users abandoned it mid-form.
THE TRADE OFF
A compliance workflow so confusing, 1 in 3 users abandoned it mid-form.
SOLUTION
The final shape of things
1
Trust, made visible
The driver profile surfaces identity, verification, rating, trust score, ride history, and vehicle details together - this is where the trust architecture becomes tangible, showing why someone is trustworthy instead of just claiming it.
2
The journey, made tangible
Route Preview shows the complete route, pickup and drop-off points, stops, and approximate timing before booking - directly addressing the finding that route transparency matters more than price.
3
Communication, moved earlier
In-app chat enables contextual, pre-booking conversations about routes and expectations, so communication becomes part of trust-building instead of an afterthought that only happens after something goes wrong.
IMPACT
What actually shifted
27%
Increase in successful ride matches
42%
Increase in booking completion
31%
Reduction in cancellations
BEFORE
Confusing booking flow
Weak trust signals
Frequent cancellations
AFTER
Faster ride confirmation
Stronger rider confidence
More reliable matching
I prefer carpooling, but many of the current apps are so confusing that I uninstalled them. The new interface at RideTogether made it easy for me to locate trusted carpoolers and book a confirmed ride with them. My commute to work and back is such a breeze now!
Siddharth N
REFLECTION
What I'd carry forward
What I'd do differently
I'd bring the driver-side preferences work in earlier - drivers avoiding uncomfortable conversations turned out to be just as important to solve as rider-side trust signals, and we treated it as a secondary concern before research showed otherwise.
What this taught me
The hardest part wasn't designing the experience - it was deciding what needed to be made visible for people to trust it.
Trust is a product system, not a feature, and marketplace UX requires designing for both sides of the interaction.