Uchenna’s UX Battle of the Apps: Uber vs Bolt
I honestly, can’t remember when last I used Uber before yesterday. I think that over the years, having almost a hundred lengthy conversations with various cab drivers on both platforms, I found that they seem to think that the Bolt app is more favorable for all parties involved (driver, car owner, rider, and company) and I guess that made me adopt the app. However, after yesterday I think my move from Uber to Bolt was less of an ethical decision and more of a subconscious decision that I made based on the impression that I must have gotten from my experience as a user.
Yesterday, I decided to get a cab on the Bolt app on my way back from getting my routine thyroid function tests done at the clinic. It was glitchy and I couldn’t seem to go ahead with the request. So, I decided to use Uber. I noticed a few odd things before I placed my request but that did not stop me from getting my cab. On completing my request, the request summary modal was triggered and for some reason, I felt quite anxious seeing that page because it was just too overwhelming.
I ignored the feeling and waited patiently for my cab but the first driver canceled and I was actually very impressed when it automatically reassigned my request to another driver- a feature that Bolt doesn’t have. Unfortunately, due to the crazy Lagos traffic, all the drivers rejected my request and so I was back to my only other option, Bolt. I placed my request for a cab like I have done on the app a gazillion times and interestingly, I couldn’t help but notice that that feeling of overwhelm wasn’t there. While I waited for the driver to arrive, I opened both apps and started comparing them page by page, shuffling and sliding between the apps trying to spot the differences and gauge my emotional response to both.
Below are some of the differences in the User Experience design that I found noteworthy. In addition, I’ll analyze the reason why I believe that UX design-wise, Bolt is a superior product to Uber and what I believe to be Uber’s shortcomings which also happen to be its unique selling point. Interesting stuff indeed. It goes without saying that I am aware that both companies are great in their own right and the designers who have worked on both products have put in their best work. Thus, this article is not intended to insult the work and/or the designers who’ve worked on Bolt and Uber but to highlight areas that should be considered for improvement.
Let’s bear in mind that great user experience (UX) means that the product should be useful, useable, enjoyable, and equitable i.e. the user should be able to find the product useful towards achieving their primary goal which in this case is getting a cab from one place to another. The user should actually be able to use the functionalities of the product without glitches or bugs, click on buttons that allow them to proceed with the task at hand, etc. The enjoyability of the app takes into consideration how the use of the product makes the user feel and equitability means that the app should take everyone into consideration regardless of their race, ethnicity, language, gender, and ability — the product should be INCLUSIVE and ACCESSIBLE. Thus, I’ll be analyzing both Bolt and Uber based on these criteria.
User story/Goal: As a user, I want to be able to view and search for a taxi to my destination with ease.
As a user, my main goal is to find a taxi to take me to my destination and both products make it easy for a user to make the request- they are simple, easy to use, and useful for this purpose. However, the Uber home page has a button that confused me. The black button at the top of the page says, ‘Ride now’. On clicking this button, it opens up the ‘Where to’ search box on a separate page. This button is just above the actual search box with this same functionality. I find it redundant and not great UX to have this, though I understand the need to fill up the white space on a page, this button has no reason to be there in the first place. I have the same sentiment towards the ‘Around you’ section.
Bolt, on the other hand, has a simple User Interface where you can see the cars around you quite clearly without having to open up another page as well fulfill the primary purpose — getting a cab. This feature is also very equitable because anybody, regardless of the background, understands what it means when they can see the taxis within close proximity to them. The map is large enough for visually impaired users to see all the information. It’s enjoyable because they can see their recently-visited places to help simplify their search.
User story/ Goal: As a user, I want to be able to view my request summary so as to be able to identify my driver when he arrives.
After you book a ride, these are the screens that the user sees on both apps. Both request summary screens have the same amount of information on display but they are organized differently. The Uber app is too text-heavy which could be overwhelming for users. Bolt strategically tucked away these features and functionalities into bold icon buttons that can easily be understood by users. One feedback for the Bolt app would be to move the icons upwards a little so that it’s more clearly visible without too much scroll space. I remember searching for the cancel button at some point and I believe that buttons should be made visible at an eye-level on the page to maximize the user experience.
User story/goal: As a user, I want to be able to see details of my previous trips so that I can see the information about the trips that I’ve been on recently.
What are the details you’d most likely want to know about your previous trips? For me and the seven other people I asked, it’s details such as time, date, price, and destination. Any other detail regarding the trip can be viewed when I expand the summary.
Side note: A larger dataset might confirm otherwise but this was the feedback I received.
Uber prioritizes the view of the maps, car type, fee, date, and time while Bolt prioritizes the location, date, time, and status of the trip. With the Bolt app, I can view more and scroll less to see every trip I’ve been on. In my opinion, Uber’s screen that includes a snippet of a map is not useful. Usable, yes, but useful, I think not. This is information that can be viewed when the user chooses to expand further. The space used for the maps can be used to include more information for the user which then shortens the user flow and inadvertently creates a more enjoyable experience with less scrolling and more clarity.
Regardless, none of the apps helps you filter by month or date which I found quite odd. For someone who uses cabs every day, I believe a filter function will enhance the UX and make it more useable and enjoyable.
User story/goal: As a user, I would like to see the details of my past events in order to have a better understanding of the events that occurred on my trip.
Most people rarely check the trip details unless they need to make a claim, get another receipt sent, find a lost item that they left in the cab or check the time of events on a trip in order to verify something — you know, evidence. Therefore, in order for the UX to be great and for the summary feature to be useful and enjoyable, these features need to be present.
On Bolt, there is a timestamp for everything- the driver’s arrival time, trip start time, and trip end time. In an event whereby the user needs to map out the sequence of events for safety reasons or otherwise, that information is present. Once again, great UX. Uber provides a timestamp which is unclear what time is being displayed. As a user, I’m racking my brain trying to figure out if the timestamp in this summary is the drop-off time, driver’s arrival time, or the trip’s start time. Not great UX.
For the ride details, it is tricky. Bolt uses a traffic light color system to indicate the departure location and destination as well as also including times for each event. This is great UX because it actually provides timestamps which are very important in almost any use case in which a user would need to access the details of a specific ride — for safety and accountability reasons. For Bolt, this is decent UX- it’s visually appealing, it’s useful, usable, enjoyable, and to some extent, equitable because everyone all over the world can relate to the traffic lighting system regardless of race or ethnicity.
However, what if the user is color blind, how can they tell the events apart? One might say that the arrangement with the pickup location at the top and destination at the bottom should be a no-brainer. My response to that will be, “that’s an assumption”. Bolt could leave the color system as is but change the shapes in order not to leave any room for misinterpretation and also enhance the experience for disabled users.
In contrast, Uber uses black shapes to depict this journey. This is equitable because it takes into consideration users who are color blind, however, it still has the problem of being misleading to all users regardless of their ability. Secondly, the driver’s picture lacks clarity due to the small size, it will be almost impossible for a rider/user with eye problems to recognize their driver from weeks ago if the picture they are working with is not clear or legible.
Lastly, Bolt displays the payment method used on a specific trip whereas Uber does not. In the event of a payment conflict where the user needs to confirm their payment method on a certain trip is exactly as their memory serves, how does the user verify this information?
Asides from the UX issues raised, there are a number of noteworthy features that Uber has on the app which I believe will be the USP for Uber. Most of these additional features are safety-oriented and it’s not difficult to see that Uber cares about the safety of its riders. Clearly, Uber’s UX research team is on their A-game because these are features that are important to riders asides from the core functionality of ride-hailing apps. However, Ridecheck, split fare, and share trip status are features that can be tucked away but not out of reach for the user for a better UX. I’d suggest using icon buttons and help bubbles to alert the user to the functionality of the buttons.
Ultimately, Uber needs to work on interaction and visual UX design while Bolt needs to work on their business/product strategy as it pertains to the safety and wellbeing of their users. Bolt will need to optimize their UX research capabilities in order to know what their users need and what they want and then execute the findings of their research with the same dedication to quality visual and interaction UX as they currently do.
In conclusion, UX is great when it meets the useful, usable, enjoyable, equitable criteria but I think it goes even further than that- user experience for a product is optimized when the UX designer takes every possible use-case for the user into consideration. UX is about empathy towards the customer and creating solutions that address the user’s problems in each possible scenario. Bolt and Uber are great products that have changed the way we live but like everything in this world, there’s always room for improvement.
