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Ka-Chow
Child-friendly app connects experienced childcare drivers with kids for safe rides and extra income
Role
Scope
Teammates
UX Designer
Product Design
David Ko
UIUX Design
Branding
Lina Lee
Megan Ngai
Strategy
Challenge
Normalize Child Ridesharing
With the surge in on-demand ride-sharing for adults, can we explore extending this convenience to children in response to the growing market presence of such apps?
Context
Introducing Safe and Accessible Child Ride-Sharing: A Reliable Transportation Solution for Kids
Convenience
Opportunities
Safety
Background
I joined IterateUX, engaging with UX newcomers and participating in hackathons addressing real-world issues. In our random team of four, we discussed backgrounds, deciding on our collaboration topic through a FigJam board vote after our initial meeting.
Choose a real-world issue that resonates with all of us and captures our interest in finding solutions.
We chose this!
Problem
How can ride-sharing apps, initially popular among adults and experiencing recent market growth, extend accessibility for children while also contributing to generating passive income for under-resourced communities like teachers?
Challenges
The absence of significant child ride-sharing apps in the market makes it challenging for us to pinpoint areas for improvement and understand the current challenges they encounter. Additionally, we need to examine varying child safety policies that differ based on states.
Rising Actions
After the team decided to focus on assisting the underserved community, specifically teachers, we delved deeper into the topic to explore potential design solutions.
Co-founder - Ciara
The image below depicted a compelling real-life situation, illustrating how many teachers in the United States must balance between two jobs to make ends meet.
Image credit - Mother Jones (2022)
Teacher
Waitress
Market Research
In 2021, the nonpartisan organization Teacher Salary Project conducted a national survey involving almost 1,200 classroom teachers to explore the various challenges teachers face.
82%
either currently or previously had taken on multiple jobs to make ends meet
53%
they were currently working multiple jobs, including 17% who held jobs unrelated to teaching
In a 2020 survey conducted by the National Education Association, 1,309 public school teachers were asked about additional jobs they worked in 2019.
47%
29%
19%
14%
hold another position in preK-12 education
hold a temporary position outside of education
hold permanent position outside of education
worked for gig economy position (eg: Uber)
The most recent data made public by the NCES, drawing on surveys conducted in the 2017-18 school year, found that:
18% or about 600,000 public school teachers in the U.S.
held second jobs outside the school system during the school year, making teachers about three times as likely as all U.S. workers to juggle multiple jobs at once.
User Research
We interviewed two working moms in the U.S., each with at least one child, to delve into their experiences with child transportation arrangements.
Interview Outcomes
Driver's Background
Kid's Behavior
Independence (Age)
Willingness
Driver's driving age, criminal record, car accident, etc
Kid's behavior in the car to avoid paying extra fees
Defined 12 years old as the min age to take Uber independently
If safety issues and costs are reliable, the kids are allowed to book an independent ride
Ridesharing Market Research
We looked up the terms, conditions, regulations, and restrictions for the current on-demand ride-sharing products and how does it work for young families in the United States
Uber and Lyft require all users to be 18 or older to hail a ride without an accompanying adult (all app users have to be 18+, but unenforced)
Some families still discreetly use Uber and Lyft to drive their teenage children (drivers may mistake riders’ age or intentionally don’t ask)
Ridesharing services catering to kids are available, but often only provide pre-scheduled rides as their primary or sole offering
Competitor Analysis
We conducted a competitor analysis to study the kid's ridesharing market opportunities.
Ideation
How can we create a child-friendly ride-sharing service by connecting qualified childcare drivers, like teachers, to offer dependable transportation and enhance income prospects.
Climax
We designed two semi-fictional characters - Debbie and Chloe to keep the focus on the end-users throughout the design process. This is to make sure that the final product is tailored to meet the specific needs and preferences of the intended audience.
Hi, I'm Debbie! I worked as a full-time marketing associate at Oracle and I'm currently pursuing part-time MBA in finance. At the same time, I am also a mom to a 10 years-old kid, her name is Chloe.
My Struggles
I'm looking into getting a promotion as marketing manager in the next two years but I've been struggling in work-life balance especially I have to also take classes after work.
Work-life Balance
Though my husband has been helpful with my busy schedules especially with the kids, I find myself struggling to pay attention to planning my kid's schedules especially her curriculum classes. I felt guilty every time that I am late to pick her up from school because I have many things on my plate.
Hi, I'm Chloe! I'm 10 years-old and my favorite things to do playing tennis. I love my teammates and would love to join the after-school training session 3 times a week.
My Struggles
I know mommy and daddy has pretty tight schedules at work and it's gonna be a burden for them to pick me up from my tennis class that ends at 4pm. I feel sad because I really wanna enhance my tennis skills, at the same time I feel bad to adding burden to my parent's schedules.
Taking Bus?
I thought of taking school bus home, however, the nearest bus station from my school is 2 miles away and my parents are concerned about my safety issues.
Falling
Action
Based on Debbie and Chloe's journey, we decided to listed down the possible features to be included in the app and sort them out based on categories such as: Must Haves, Nice to Have, Wishlist
Falling
Action
Falling
Action
Resolution
Debbie receives notification from Chloe saying she needs a ride home from school. She then proceed with choosing the nearest drivers based on the ratings, car models, driving age, etc to make sure Chloe gets home safe.
Introduce
KaChow kid's ridesharing app
Chloe can now stay over at school for tennis class while Debbie have better flexibility at work without having to worry about her kid's transportation
Booking a ride
Debbie booked a ride for her child, Chloe, to tennis class, ensuring safety by using a designated word for Chloe to verify the correct driver. The live location feature enables Debbie to track Chloe's whereabouts during the trip, and both parties should exchange contact information. Additionally, Chloe should confirm the safety word with the driver for added security.
Request Permission
After her tennis lesson, Chloe uses the app to request a ride home, and Debbie is notified to stay informed about Chloe's location. Once approved, Chloe receives details such as the car plate number, driver's name, and safety word for her ride.
Reflection
If granted more time, I would conduct additional card-sorting exercises with a diverse group of children to assess their comprehension of the user interface. This is essential for evaluating potential design and content hierarchy iterations and gauging the readiness of children to take rides independently. Despite being time-consuming and resource-intensive, it holds value for a comprehensive evaluation.