How can Kubak be improved?

Kubak is a local Kurdish application that finds the nearest taxi driver for a user with a convenient price for their destination. It has been around for some years and is the best solution for an online taxi-booking experience in Kurdistan.

Kubak helps users to order a taxi with a few simple clicks. They can either book a taxi or find the nearest taxi driver to their current location. The app then shows the price for their destination and the estimated time of arrival. Users can also pay for their rides through the app.

Many people are using this app and it is quite popular in Sulaymaniyah, but few people are completely satisfied with it. The reason is that the app is not very user-friendly and lacks some features that would make it more convenient to use.

The TL;DR of all this, of course, is that Kubiak should focus on the main problem it’s trying to solve, which is providing taxi services, and remove all the other features that are unnecessary and unrelated to that. They should make the taxi-ordering feature as usable and efficient as possible, maybe add a few other features that are related to that, and improve their map feature to help the user find their way to their destination.

How do we make it better though?

Every business has some areas for improvement. For Kubak, I listed some areas that I think need to be improved. I used the application quite often for a month to be able to experience different aspects of it.

The Biggest Problem

The biggest issue with the application is that they’re going for too many things at once, the app doesn’t serve a sole purpose. It tries to go for many things that are irrelevant to the main problem they’re trying to solve.

They currently have a main taxi-ordering feature, along with a chatting feature and one to manage your wallet. They used to have a shopping feature in their application, too, but it was a failure and they shut it down. This is too many features for one application, and it’s not even necessary.

I performed a light scan for the subdomains of their website and it brought up several results which were completely irrelevant to a taxi-providing company.

The solution to this is to focus on the main problem that they’re trying to solve, which is providing taxi services, and remove all the other features that are unnecessary and unrelated to that.

They should focus on making the taxi-ordering feature as user-friendly and efficient as possible, and maybe add a few other features that are related to that, such as a map feature to help the user find their way to their destination.

Unnecessary information is asked for

The application asks for too much information that is not necessary. For example, when you sign up, they ask for your first name, last name, email, phone number, password, and profile picture. They don’t need all of this information, especially not a profile picture.

When you open your profile, you can enter extra information such as a bio, a username, and a birthday. This is completely unnecessary and it’s just collecting data for no reason.

The solution is to only ask for the information that is absolutely necessary, such as an email and password for signing up. For the profile, they could just use the email and maybe a profile picture, but the rest of the information is unnecessary.

User experience is not as good as it could be

The app is not very user-friendly and it’s not easy to navigate. The layout is confusing and the buttons are not very intuitive. You really have to explore the app to figure out how to use it and what all the features are.

It is really hard to get where you want without actually asking for help or checking out everything which is quite time-consuming. The flow is really clunky and you cannot reach where you want in less than 3 taps.

An example of this is the logging out button which should be easily accessible. Instead, it’s hidden in the settings under a section called security. The only button you can tap in that section is the log-out button. If it’s the only thing there why make a section for it?

The solution is to make the app more user-friendly and easier to navigate. The layout should be simpler and more intuitive. The buttons should be more self-explanatory and easier to find. The flow should be more smooth and streamlined so that users can get to where they want without too much effort.

Wallet is confusing

The wallet section is really confusing and it’s not clear what it’s for. It looks like it’s just a way to add money to your account so that you can pay for your rides, but it’s not clear how it works.

There are too many buttons on the screen and it’s not clear what they’re made for. Buttons like sending money, a scanner, and a top-up button are what you see there, but it’s not clear what any of those buttons do. There is not even a clear explanation as to where to buy their cards and fill up your account.

The wallet should be easier to understand. The buttons should be more self-explanatory and the layout should be simpler. There should be fewer buttons with a better flow of UX and a clear explanation of how the wallet works and how to add money to it.

The map, the map, THE MAP

The map is really really hard to use, it’s not accessible at all and it’s really confusing. The layout is really cluttered and there are too many buttons. It’s really hard to figure out how to use it and what all the features are.

There is no search functionality to pick your destination, the map doesn’t show the labels for any of the places and you have to have memorized the map visually to be able to choose where you’re going.

There are places where you can see your past rides and your saved locations but I did not see any option to save locations.

A map should be intuitive and accessible because maps are really hard to deal with and you should be able to book a taxi within 5 taps. You should be able to easily dance your way through the booking experience and not have a single issue with it in order to have a loose experience.

Conclusion

An application should focus on one main problem that it’s trying to solve and remove all the other features that are unnecessary and unrelated to that. The layout should not be creative but something people are familiar with.

Users should be able to feel as if they already know how to use the application and not try to learn it every time they open the application and have the need for it.

A good application is one where users don’t even think about the design and how it works, they just use it.