d.school Applied: Sharing 'my car' ride in India

(Thought that I would let the title itself to get you thinking and leave you alone. But as usual, I would like to document my thoughts so will continue. ;-)

Background: Many ride sharing apps are fighting it out a piece of pie in India especially Bangalore and Pune. Even one of my friends started off one and tasted minimal success before they sold it. Irrespective of what the others claim, most of them did not yet crack it either.

What is going wrong?

When faced with a question of "Why do you think this will work?". Apart from saving money on petrol and making new friends, there are a host of other reasons like avoid congestion on roads, lesser pollution, works in other countries etc. etc. But none of them seem to give that push to the consumer to jump onto the band wagon and wanting to share their car.

What do you see the in the above picture? Traffic of course. Lets try and design think the problem.

Empathize

Do you feel the pain of person in the driving seat? What is going their mind? Do you 'Empathize' with that person?

• Is the person thinking 'Man, I am wasting a lot of money on petrol' ?
• Is the person thinking 'Only if I have company then this ride will be much more pleasant' ?

Do you agree? I don't. The single most likely thing that is going thru the mind is: 

'Why doesn't someone do something about this?' Most likely thinking about the authorities (police, roads, govt in general ;-). Anger. Helplessness of knowing that it is a pain and knowing that you can't avoid.

Define - Iteration 1

We need to come up with an innovative solution to solve this traffic problem.

Ideate - Iteration 1

The obvious solutions to the problem :-

• Improve public transport - Very true but something that we will leave to the govt and not meddle. Not that you can't solve it; but its for another day another fight.
• Reduce the number of vehicles (cars) - Get going with an API platform and mobile app with a wonderful UI/UX and put all energy behind digital marketing it for adoption.

Both the solutions are both are right off the bat great!

Now lets think again. Deep think!!!

Re-frame the problem

Design thinking encourages re-framing the problem to boost innovation. Lets try that here. I will quote what the user is thinking for continuity.

'Why doesn't someone do something about this?' Most likely thinking about the authorities (police, roads, govt in general ;-). Anger. Helplessness of knowing that it is a pain and knowing that you can't avoid.

When you feel angry and or helpless, you can do many things. One that involves action is you fight and you find a solution. You fight in many situations, when you are threatened, oppressed . You revolt. When multiple people revolt then starts a revolution. A movement. Now! Lets rephrase the problem.

Define - Iteration 2

How do I solve traffic chaos by starting a ride sharing revolution in India ? Does the problem definition seem different? I certainly hope it does. If after us re-framing the problem if you now get the idea of how you want to ideate to solve it you can stop reading here. :) Coz your ideas could be fresh and different. Come back and read the rest so that you can compare yours with mine and comment on the article.

Ideate - Iteration 2

Being part of a revolution brings a sense of pride. As a participant when I am proud of what I am doing I would go to great lengths to continue to be part of the revolution. Generate that sense of pride in each consumer starting from the first consumer. When a user signs up for your service, don't demean him by giving him ?500/- or ?999/- coupon for petrol or to recharge their mobile. With the same amount of funds you can do a lot of things.

1. Send him a welcome kit. Include a memento that they can proudly display on their car/home/desk at the office. I would recommend that for the first 1000 consumers you hand deliver the same. Make them feel welcome to the movement. He is a comrade not a consumer/customer!

2. Personal visit has its own advantages, take a photos and market it on social media and tag him and his family so that their friends and aware of the great cause that they signed up to fight for. "Satish Patruni takes a first step in revolutionizing road chaos!" or something similar. He should definitely sound like a hero!

3. Keep in touch. Don't yet let go. A month or two down the line, send something else. A coffee mug or pin up badges to his kids that they can pin to their school bags. If they are not active on the service it acts as a reminder. Else it acts as thank you!. Say something like "My dad/mom fights for Bangalore! Does yours?". Get personal! You are already asking him to share his very personal car with someone. His family should be with you in the revolution. They should feel equally proud of what he is doing.

4. Go further. Check with him and visit his apartment complex or his club or office for a promotion. Surprise him by felicitating him and announcing to his neighbors and friends on how he is part of revolution that is already improving their lives when they commute!

Keep going! Think of wonderful ideas on how to keep the comrade feeling good about what they are doing. Publish stats, organize meetups the works!

Of course you need to have a stable platform and usable app but if you understand the model by now,  these are just enablers; you're comrades will be along side with you fighting for the cause. You are a crusader here not another  company. When you have enough people battling with you, money and fame are byproducts. They are bound to happen.

I believe you get the idea by now. :) Once a revolution starts and is nurtured well in the initial stages, it will grow on its own. You will just need to keep oiling it once in a while.