Redefining Customer Experience in Shared Mobility

BlaBla car-a community-based travel network claims to have enabled over 90 million members to share a ride across 22 markets. Shared mobility which began in the 1940s in Switzerland has now become an essential part of our everyday lives. Numerous micro-mobility solutions, like Yulu, Bounce, and Rapido, are everywhere now.

According to Frost & Sullivan, the Indian shared mobility industry is expected to witness nearly four-fold growth. Revenues will touch $42.85 billion by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 25.3%.

As we move into the experience economy, customer experience (CX) will play a vital role in retaining customers and acquiring the new segment-Gen Z. Zoomers or Gen Z are the most advanced, tech-savvy audience who rely on technology. They want a great digital experience to stay loyal to their favorite brands. They are quick to express on social media what they experience and feel about- be it good or bad. Right after the offices re-opened a few months ago, Uber and Ola users complained on social media about rides getting canceled. To minimize the possibility of cancellation, Uber started enabling drivers to view drop-off locations prior to accepting the rides.

Keeping in mind the evolving customer preferences and expectations, companies are constantly working on redefining customer experience in shared mobility. Chalo– a mobility startup offers live bus tracking and a live passenger indicator showing how crowded the bus is in real-time. Quick Ride offers people carpooling along with a Taxi/Cab app for local, airport, and outstation travels. This points out that enhancing customer experience has become a significant factor for shared mobility organizations to retain their customers. And it seems that the businesses operating in this ecosystem have a myriad of possibilities to grow. Here’s why:

1. Higher demand for shared mobility in Remote Areas: Pandemic has brought in work-from-home culture worldwide. People who migrated to their home towns in tier 2 and 3 cities want shared mobility options to commute. Digital literacy in rural areas in the last two years has gone up. Number of internet users in India may reach 800 million by 2023, reveals McKinsey report. This will create more demand for shared vehicle services in remote areas. 

2. Increase in Traffic Congestion: As the offices have reopened, so has the traffic congestion on roads. India’s shared mobility sector is expected to touch nearly 15 crore users by 2025, according to the Redseer report. Higher disposable income, inadequate public transport, and the demand-supply gap will drive this growth.

EV (Electric Vehicle) ecosystem in India

EV ecosystem which is now in its nascent stage will evolve within the next few years. The government has been promoting EVs across the nation with the goal of achieving 50% vehicle electrification by 2030. Key players like Uber, Ola, and Vogo are planning to switch to electric vehicles. There’s already a long queue for Ola bikes amongst customers. The company recently announced to bring Ola electric car on the road by 2023.

Yulu is a mobility app to book & track trips, monitor bike health, report bike issues, check personal stats, and win rewards. Mantra Labs built a scalable platform for Yulu, enabling a scalable and easy-to-use app for users to access bike-sharing services. Consumers can check personal health stats (calories burnt), distance covered and amount of carbon emissions saved for each trip.

The Future:

Redefining customer experience in shared mobility space is the need of the hour. We are heading towards an intelligent and connected world. Future automobiles will be more smarter than ever before. Recently, California regulators gave a nod to robotic taxi services to charge passengers for driverless rides in San Francisco. Tesla has been working on building autonomous vehicles for future customers. Given India’s massive population and infrastructural gap, it is difficult to say if autonomous vehicles would be feasible on Indian roads for now. But this may be possible in the future. As of now, the biggest challenge for companies is figuring out how to make the rider experience seamless, safe, convenient, and economical. 

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