Product Review: Uru — The Ghanaian L*ft of Uber
No one likes to be referred to in reference to their competitor. Unfortunately, I don’t know how else to put this across easily. The moment I mentioned Uber, I’m sure you already know what Uru is about. I hope they won’t mind this…
Uru is a Ghanaian company that is giving Uber a run for their money in Ghana. It is an online transportation service for ‘taxi’ hiring. According to their CEO, they aim at providing cheap and convenient means of online taxi, covering all regions and cities in Ghana.
“Uru gives you affordable, secure fast services ranging from economy cars, charter services, business cars, special travel cars, parcel delivery, truck delivery etc.”.
Since its recent launch in April, Uru has had impressive growth of drivers and users across the country.
Anyway, let’s get into the nitty gritty of the application’s UX(user experience) i.e it’s usefulness, ease of use and delightfulness of interaction.
I used the application and also had a number of people use it so I can give an objective review.
First things first, getting the application on Google Play Store was easy. Though a little confusing since they’ve only labelled the driver application. You have to read the application description to know which one is meant for the users. Maybe what is not, is.
After downloading the app, the signup process is quite easy. There are no glitches save for if you’re experiencing network issues. For instance, it took one of my friends over an hour to receive the confirmation code. They require a few details during the signup process-your phone number and email address.
Once you’ve signed up, you are presented with a colourful map. (They use Google Maps). You can choose to turn on your location, which is pretty accurate by the way. I’m trying not to compare it to Uber, but in this case they get a point for having higher accuracy.
They present a call to action button for users to set a pickup place. I like their choice of words because it communicates their business from the word go. They are imploring you to use their service.
Once you click, you are presented with a ‘choose service’ page with the different packages and the minimum price for each. Some of the available options are economy cars, travel saloon car, city/travel SUV, travel minibus, ambulance, cargo delivery and parcel delivery.
After picking your package, you confirm your booking by first adding your drop off and time. You then receive the quote on the cost based on your drop off.
Likes
I liked the on boarding process and how fast the signup process was. Though I guess one of my friend’s will disagree.
It implores you to turn your location at the very first stage so you don’t have logout and back like in Uber.
The UI(user interface) is pretty clean. The color choices and the combinations are cool.
The accuracy of their map is a plus for them.
I like their variety of services though I’m not sure how effective they are since I didn’t use them.
The application is easy to use but maybe it’s because I have used a similar service before. The ease of use from requesting a cab, to payment and drop off.
Dislikes
*This is a necessary evil.
I don’t like the fact that I didn’t see any drivers close to my location. The closest driver was 15–20 minutes away. They need more drivers on their platform for optimum user experience and of course more customers.
Conclusion
I would totally recommend someone to use the application when they aren’t in a hurry. Just ensure to setup a pickup a few minutes before you have to head out.
