Should Lyft build ride scheduling functionality?

Should Lyft build ride scheduling functionality?

Clarify:

Ride scheduling functionality means the ppl are scheduling their rides sometime before their ride.

Assuming that this is considered in the US first  

And assuming normal rides + shared rides as well.

Mission: improve people’s lives with the world’s best transportation

User persona:

PS: pricing sensitivity TS: time sensitivity

Business travelers ( x PS, TS)  

Tourists/ leisure travelers ( PS, x TS)

Commuters ( PS, TS)

Let me choose commuters since they are the ones that might need the “scheduling functionality” since they have a “scheduled” life

What are the pain points of commuters? Why would I think about launching the ride scheduling functionality for them?

-          Transportation should be available to me with different price options  

-          It should provide the most efficient way to go from point A to B with a minimum time consumption.

What are the pros and cons of ride scheduling functionality from both driver’s  and the rider’s side?

There are some pros and cons of this launch:

Outcomes:

The system can ask driver to plan themselves for the scheduled ride and if the driver cancels the ride, the system will have time to find another driver

If the rider cancels the ride, they will pay the cancellation fee and this will be a bot significant fee like 50% of the ride. IF driver cancels the ride, it is going to reduce their grade in the system therefore they will be lower segment driver through the system. Perks may be reduced for them.. but the system will call another driver for the rider.

Since I have chosen commuters, I think they can schedule their whole week. Lets say this person has some neighbors who are going to the same/close address(from the home to call train station). We can ask them ride-sharing options. Since we are trying to improve their lives with the world’s best and efficient transportation, I think this could be a good fit to the goal of Lyft.

In addition, the more data we collect in advance to better service we can provide since we will have time to figure out the best solution to the customer.

The only negative side is that, after rider schedules the ride, if we see so many cancellations this can give bad impression about Lyft’s operation. Therefore, we should start with enough demand-supply area like the metropolitans.

Vision and Mission of Lyft: Improve people's lives with the best transportation. 

Clarifying Question: What is the goal of adding the feature: increasing revenue/improving user experience. 

Since Lyft's market share is currently rising and Uber's market share is falling,  I will take the  assumption to improve user experience

Business Model: Match riders with drivers based on the rider's preference of car type ( luxury, regular), number of passengers (XL, Regular). Based on factors such as distance, car type, time of travel, demand dynamic prices are computed and both driver and rider agree to that price. If the rider or the driver denies, a different driver/rider is matched. 

The scheduling of cars requires commitment from both rider and driver. If there are a lot of rejections from either end, it will create a bad user experience for both the users. 

The different user personas who take Lyft: 

• Power Users
• Occasional Users 
• Casual Users

• The User gets an option to plan for future dates and future time for the same date
• The driver willing to travel at that time gets rewarded with an additional bonus if the time is odd like early morning 
• Option to cancel a scheduled ride is available until 2 hours before the ride else the party who cancels is penalized
• If the driver cancels, the ride should be matched with another driver and if a match is not possible, the user should be notified at least 2 hours in advance so that the rider can plan his travel 
• The user should get an option to chose the starting location and change the city while scheduling the ride 

Writing the brief outline of how I will handle it.

Understanding: Should Lyft allow users to schedule a cab in future time and ensure that the cab is available at right time at right place.

Vision and Mission: Lyft vision is to improve people's life better transportation. Also, mission talks about community driven.

Current business model: Lyft provide matchmaking between cab and user, and provide services like time to board cab, invoicing and pricing. 

User Flow: 1. User book a cab for a future time.

2. Lyft has to work with a cab and confirm to the user. As prices are dynamic, Lyft has to work with both user and cab to finalize the price at the same time based on unknown factors.

3. If one of, user or cab back's out, alternate allocation of another person has to be identified. Price commitment may not be valid at that point of time.

4. The User has to be ready by the time car arrives. As, there is a possibility of delay's for users and cab, issues are required to be resolved in real time.

Alternate flow: Work with cab's just before schedule time.

The problem with this model is: while the customer is committed, there is no surety of cab availability. Any failure to provide cab or notify user at the last moment will bring in bad name for lyft.

In all, given the current Lyft business model, scheduling model will require Lyft to work on an alternate business model and the process involves a lot of human interfaces, cab management and lot of variable factors. Also, it may bring bad press for Lyft.

Potential Demand: Current average wait time for user for Lyft is around 10 min today. Generally, if a user wants to plan 4 days ahead, he/she can plan 10 min ahead as well. However, there will a very few users who will want to plan days ahead, if they are provided confidence that they  will be provided with a cab in the time frame showing on the app, without failure. 

Looking from the competitor's perspective, Uber runs the same business model and the same rule will apply for them. Yellow cabs provide the feature, but has faced a lot of issues in this model, leading to their bad reputation, and user migrating to Lyft and Uber.

Thus, Lyft focus should be to bring confidence in users by providing more and reliable cabs. Scheduling cabs do not have large market potential or synergy with the current business model. If Lyft still wants to go ahead, they should start with large cities with high car availability and in areas, where there are generally many cabs available at the scheduled time.