RedEye Application

WHAT IS REDEYE?

Redeye is the commuting service that is currently provided to students who are traveling back home from the university outside the campus from
5 pm to 6 am.

More than 3,300 students used the service for 45,000 rides in the 2018-2019 academic year.

Source: https://www.masstransitmag.com/alt-mobility/shared-mobility/press-release/21096476/via-mobility-services-via-via-and-northeastern-university-offer-on-demand-safety-shuttle

Over a period of 11 weeks, I did a 3-part project on the RedEye application as part of my methods for global user experience course at Northeastern University.

Redesign Objectives

The research on the RedEye application aimed at understanding the user experience of the application. The research was carried out by employing three distinct user research techniques:

• Competitive analysis

• Surveys

• User interviews.

Key Issues

The two main challenges that were addressed through this research were the current user frustration while booking a ride and the reasons for its low adoption rate among students.

Competitor's analysis features

RedEye's strategic advantage lies in its specialized focus on safety within the Northeastern University community. Deep integration with university infrastructure and specialized safety features create a sense of trust and security among students and staff.

Where as TransLoc Rider and TripShot offer valuable transportation services, they cater to different university campuses with broader commuting needs.

Research questions

Surveys

61 participants participated in the survey
49 of those participants were Graduate students
10 questions total

Survey goals

• Understand the challenges faced by current RedEye users.

• Assess awareness levels and usage ratio among the target audience.

• Identify reasons for non-usage and barriers to adoption.

Survey Logic

Formulated 2 survey logics:
one for current users to provide feedback based on their experience and another for non-users to understand the reasons for non-usage.

Click to View the survey logic here

Surveys results – challenges

Surveys results – suggestions

When Asked
If you had a magic wand and could improve any aspect of Redeye, what would you do?

A few common themes emerged

Communication

“I would improve on the communication between the driver and the students boarding . Sometimes, Students feel that the drivers take quite a while to arrive at the spot, if the students had an option to contact the driver to know where are they are it would help improve the experience.”

Availability

“Most of the time when I request a ride, they say they are experiencing "unusually high demand" and there are no rides available. It can't always be "unusually high" they just don't have enough vans available.”

Pick up & Drop

“Adequate resources to meet the needs of students. It would also be nice to have alternate pick-up spots on campus. Why do you have to enter you're 'from' destination if the only option is Snell Library?”

User Intreview

Goals
Identify common pain points
Gather suggestions for improving the service.

Process
I conducted 4 user Interviews, where I mainly focused on understanding their usage patterns, satisfaction levels, and suggestions for improvement.

The interview notes were analyzed to identify recurring themes and areas of concern.

Commonalities among user experiences and suggestions were identified.

Recommendations

Enhanced Communication with Drivers

Provide an option to contact the driver to know where they are or if they are getting delayed.

Notification suggestion

A notification feature to alert passengers when their stop is approaching.

Feature:

Option to make a group booking while booking a van by multiple users going to a similar location

Default Pick-up Location

Mentioned by 50% of respondents.