I complained to Uber about this on Twitter last night, but I'll repeat it here: never underestimate the problems a change in an app's design will have on users. Because it might just turn someone's night into a hellish commute back home. And yes, in case you were wondering, that someone was me.
In my month or so of living and working in the Boston area, I've learned the joys of living just far enough away from my downtown office (in Malden) to make it a sometimes annoying and frustrating commute. For the most part, it's fine and I can get by: I catch the Orange Line at Downtown Crossing, get out at Malden Center and then take a bus to my neighborhood.
But when I'm feeling anxious to get home faster or not wanting to deal with super-crowded shuttle buses, Uber has been there for me.
That is until last night, when I realized Uber had updated its app and removed a feature I'd been using every single time, making it impossible for me to hail a ride. Ultimately, after some issues with Lyft as well, it was a taxi cab that ended up saving my night.
I was just leaving an event at District Hall held by Mass Innovation Nights and Innovation Women and, in trying to cut down on my Uber expenses, I decided to take the Silver Line from Courthouse Station to begin my commute home. But after waiting more than 20 minutes, I noticed a few people who got there before me decide to give up on waiting and leave.
So I followed suit.
It was already past 9 p.m., and knowing the time it takes to get from downtown to Malden with a combo of T and shuttle buses, I wanted to try to expedite some of that commute with an Uber. So I opened the app, set up my destination for North Station and then realized the option for choosing a payment method was missing from the step you take right before hailing a ride.
Now, this might not be a problem for someone who has one payment method on the app, but I had two, and the one that didn't work—an expired debit card—was set as the primary option. My second payment option was Google Wallet, which works—but with the design change, the ability to toggle payments was no longer there. In its place was a large promotion for Uber Pool, which lets you split the costs of a ride with someone else. I also tried going to the payment tab to see if I could update the payment, but that wouldn't work, either.
So I downloaded Lyft, hailed a ride, and the car arrived shortly. But unfortunately, this driver wasn't familiar with how to get from the waterfront to North Station. He also didn't know how to make the best use of Lyft's GPS system, which he occasionally toggled out of for another GPS app—all the while pulling to the side of the road a few times to do so.
In all, what should have been a 10-minute trip ended up taking more than twice as long.
After taking the Orange Line to Sullivan Station and taking a shuttle to Malden Center, I definitely didn't want to wait for another bus at that point. And my tolerance for Uber and Lyft had completely dried up. So I approached what I had been avoiding all night: a taxi cab.
After being frustrated by the T, Uber and Lyft, the cab was a relief: it was already there, waiting for me; it accepted credit cards; and the driver even knew a shortcut.
By the time I got into my apartment, I realized I had been trying to get home for two hours.
My overwhelmingly positive experience with the cab—it just worked, like the way Uber's supposed to—made me wonder what kind of world this might be if we no longer had that option due to services like Uber and Lyft. I'm all for disruption, but I'm also in support of things that work.
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