Paratransit App Booking Flow Redesign

A rider-first booking experience for paratransit users—reduced to the decisions that matter, with clearer maps, accessible controls, and confident confirmations.

The redesign turns a high-friction routine into an inclusive, predictable journey for people who depend on reliable transport.

New Design

The Challenge

The booking experience is the single most critical flow in our rider application. Over successive feature additions, it had grown bloated and confusing. Passionate daily users found themselves facing unnecessary cognitive friction when executing routine trips. This redesign recovers clean, rapid utility while respecting the visual instincts of seasoned riders.

Project Duration: Focus Booking, Accessibility, Information Architecture

Platform: iOS Mobile

The Problem

"A routine trip booking that should take under 45 seconds was taking riders over three minutes, leading to an 18% drop-off rate at the final step."

Frequent screen redraws, rigid sequencing, and poorly integrated maps combined to break confidence just as users were preparing to commit to their trips. The interface was asking for excessive cognitive investments where fluid, automatic system feedback was expected.

Strategic Methodology

The Design Process

01 Discover: User research, Hotjar heatmaps, and competitive benchmarking.

02 Define: Synthesizing friction points, defining key metrics, and path scoping.

03 Design: Rapid wireframing, high-density system design, and flow testing.

04 Deliver: Developer handoff specs, design quality assurance, and Maze testing.

User Research

Research & Insights

72%

Decision Fatigue

Riders were confronted with secondary choices before confirming primary trip routes.

Transportation Barriers

of U.S. adults reported lacking reliable transportation that prevented them from getting to medical appointments or essential activities in the past year.

It was not just a UX problem. The app had a 2.1★ rating and users were calling a 2-hour phone queue instead.

Before redesigning anything, I needed to understand whether the failures were isolated screen issues or something structural. The answer came from three independent sources and all three said the same thing.

I started with a simple assumption: if this is a paratransit rider booking a ride to dialysis three times a week, every extra step is a potential no-show. That context shaped every research decision.

NEMT Market 2025

$11.8B

Growing 8.8% annually

3.6M

Americans per year no transport

60M+

Paratransit isn’t a niche product. It’s a federally mandated service. The users are booking rides to chemotherapy, dialysis, and surgery. A confusing booking flow isn’t a minor UX inconvenience it’s a public health problem.

I started with App Store reviews

The same complaints appeared repeatedly address search failures, map crashes, and the booking flow

being too complex for elderly users. 2.1★ from 66 reviews.

Then I looked at the version history.

VoiceOver fixes, touch target patches, map crash resolutions all added post-launch across versions 4.3.1–4.3.3 in response to complaints.

Key Insight

“The same issues were patched 3–4 times across multiple releases without solving the underlying structural problem.”

This wasn’t a maintenance problem. It was a design philosophy problem.

Heuristic Audit · Key Findings

10 failures across 4 screens

Most violated heuristic: Visibility of system status — violated 6 times across 3 screens. Users consistently couldn’t tell if their booking was registering, where their ride was, or what they were about to confirm.

Critical · Finding 01

Booking flow is 2× more complex than market standard

8 steps to book one ride. Single-field screens for mobility aid and trip purpose fragment the flow unnecessarily. Each extra step is a drop-off point.

Critical · Finding 03

Critical information hidden at the worst moments

Fare buried in a floating badge. Drop-off address truncated. Purpose field cut off above CTA. The final screen before booking is the most broken screen.

Positive · Finding 05

Three patterns worth preserving

Heart/clock icon system for saved vs. recent addresses. Return trip prompt after booking. Bottom tab navigation. These were designed well kept in the redesign.

Critical · Finding 02

The map provides zero booking confidence

Both addresses entered — map shows only a GPS dot. No pickup pin, no drop-off pin, no route line. Direct cause of re-bookings and phone fallback.

Major · Finding 04

Pickup window language creates anxiety on day of travel

“10:06 AM–10:38 AM” shown with no explanation. For elderly users heading to medical appointments, this ambiguity directly causes no-shows.

Address selection

1

Critical

Pickup and drop-off on separate screens

Forces user to navigate to a second screen just to enter the second address — doubling the steps for one logical task.

2

Major

Back navigation says “Details” — confusing

The back label “Details” doesn’t tell the user where they came from or where they’ll go back to.

3

Positive — keep

Heart / clock icons for saved vs. recent addresses

Excellent recognition pattern - users can identify saved destinations without reading labels.

Itinerary + map screen

1

“Arrive by” is ambiguous jargon

Users don’t know if this is their requested arrival time or a guaranteed window. Creates booking errors for medical appointments.

2

Critical

Drop-off address truncated “Chawdr…”

User cannot verify their destination is correct. For medical appointments this directly causes booking errors and no-shows.

3

Critical

Map shows only GPS dot — no route, no pins

Both addresses entered but no visual confirmation. User cannot verify their journey is registered correctly.

4

Major

Date / time split into 3 tiny tap targets

“Arrive by”, “Jul 8”, “7:40 PM” three adjacent buttons, each under 44pt. Impossible for Dorothy with reduced motor precision.

5

Major

X button clears address with no undo

Tapping × instantly clears a typed address with no confirmation and no way to recover it. Catastrophic for low-literacy users.

New Trip summary screen

Critical

Fare hidden in floating badge outside reading flow

$2.00 floats in the top-right corner outside the natural reading order. Fixed-income users commit to a booking without knowingly seeing the cost.

2

Critical

Section chevrons ambiguous edit or expand?

“›” next to Itinerary, Specifics, Payment, Price each chevron could mean expand to see more OR tap to edit. Users can’t tell.

Major

Purpose field “Shopping” cut off above Book Trip

Critical information truncated directly above the confirmation CTA. User is committing to a booking with incomplete information visible.

Trip destinations

1

Critical

Ride location “not available” no guidance

On the day of a medical appointment, the most critical screen shows “not available” with no ETA, no fallback, no explanation.

Critical

Live tracking buried as a small text link

“Map view” — the most valuable feature on travel day is a tiny underlined text link at the bottom. Dorothy may never find it.

3

Major

“10:06 AM–10:38 AM” shown with no explanation

A raw 7-minute time window with no context. Users don’t know if they need to be ready at 7:10 or if the driver might be late by 7:17.

Audience Mapping

User Personas

Every micro-decision in this redesign was filtered through two people — a 72-year-old dialysis patient and a 45-year-old wheelchair user. Not edge cases. The primary users.

Dorothy

Age 72 · Seattle, WA · Paratransit rider

“I just want to know my ride is coming. The app confuses me so I just call — but the wait is so long.”

Frustrations

Confused by the 8-step booking flow

Small touch targets are difficult to tap accurately

Can’t visually verify her route on the map

Jargon labels that aren’t clear

2+ hour phone wait times

Goals

Book rides to weekly dialysis appointments reliably

Understand exactly when the ride will arrive

Know the fare cost upfront before booking

Confirm pickup and drop-off locations visually

Marcus

Age 45 · Seattle, WA · Wheelchair user

“Why do I have to go through 8 screens just to book one ride? I do this every week.”

Frustrations

8 separate screens just to book one ride

Mobility aid selection required every single time

Small X buttons difficult to tap with switch access

No booking summary to review before confirming

Repetitive data entry that should be saved

Goals

Book accessible rides accommodating his wheelchair quickly

App remembers his mobility aid requirements automatically

Review complete booking details before confirming

Complete bookings with fewer steps

Structural Design

Information Architecture

From 8 steps to 3 and why each one was collapsed

The original flow fragmented one decision “I want to go from A to B at this time” into eight separate screens. Each screen became a drop-off point. The redesign consolidates everything into three intentional steps.

01

Was: Steps 1 + 2

Set pickup + drop-off with map confirmation

Both address fields on one screen. Map updates in real time as addresses are entered - showing route line and both pins immediately. Saved addresses (heart/clock icons) preserved from the original.

02

Was: Steps 3 + 4 + 5 + 6

Trip details — date, time, mobility aid, fare

All trip parameters on one screen in reading order. Fare visible before commitment. Mobility aid pre-filled from Marcus’s profile. Plain language pickup window replaces jargon.

Was: Steps 7 + 8

Confirm and book

Full summary - untruncated addresses, plain pickup time range, itemised fare breakdown, wallet balance with “Covered” confirmation. One CTA. No ambiguity.

High-Fidelity Artifacts

Final Design & UI

The polished UI features crisp geometric line work, robust touch targets, and a system font stack designed for rapid contextual reading during transit.

Every finding has a visible solution

Before

Map shows a GPS dot. No route. No pins.

Both addresses entered — the map renders nothing useful. Users cannot verify their journey visually. Direct cause of re-bookings and phone fallback confirmed in App Store reviews.

After

Route line + pickup pin + drop-off pin from first entry

As soon as both addresses are entered, the map renders a route with both pins. Dorothy can see her journey to the dialysis centre before she confirms anything.

Fare hidden in floating badge. Last screen. After commitment.

$2.00 fare appears in a floating badge outside the reading flow on the last screen. For users on fixed incomes, this is a fundamental trust failure.

After

Itemised fare breakdown. Total before confirmation. Wallet status.

Base fare, distance charge, waiting charge (conditional), taxes, and total — all visible in the reading flow. Wallet balance shown separately with “Covered” confirmation.

Before

“10:06 AM –10:38 PM” no explanation

A raw time window with no context. For elderly users heading to medical appointments, this ambiguity directly causes no-shows - the most expensive failure mode for agencies.

“Your driver may arrive between 11:05 AM – 11:40 AM”

Plain time range derived from pickup time and negotiation window. Dorothy reads an actual clock time - no formula, no guessing, no arithmetic required.

Before

Live tracking buried as a small text link

Map view buried at the bottom of the trip card. The most valuable feature on travel day - knowing where your driver is — is the hardest thing to find.

After

Full-screen map. Driver info. Lock screen notification.

Live tracking is the primary day-of experience. Lock screen shows ETA without opening the app. Driver name, photo, vehicle, and arrival time all prominent.

Final Screens

Performance Outcomes

Expected Impact

STAGE

01

8 booking steps

Legacy Pain Point

Reduced the booking journey from 8 steps to 3 guided decisions, making the process easier to understand and complete.

STAGE

02

Multiple form fields

Legacy Pain Point

Redesigned Outcome

Applied accessible interaction patterns, clearer visual hierarchy, and larger touch targets to better support riders with diverse mobility and cognitive needs.

STAGE

03

Separate location entry

Legacy Pain Point

Redesigned Outcome

Streamlined location selection with guided search, saved locations, and map-assisted interactions to minimize user effort.

STAGE

04

Complex navigation

Legacy Pain Point

Established reusable UI patterns and a modular booking flow that can support future features such as recurring trips, companion riders, and trip modifications.

Post-Project Reflections

Key Learnings

01

Respect learned behaviors

Riders develop deep muscle memory. Drastic UI changes should be introduced incrementally to prevent initial drop-offs from sheer layout unfamiliarity.

02

Map real-world stress

A booking flow isn’t used in a quiet office. It’s used on a rainy platform while juggling bags. Designing for extreme environment states prevents fragile UI breakdowns.

03

Design for the system, not the screen

Changes to a core booking layout create cascades into driver dispatches, customer service, and receipts. Holistic designers manage downstream system side-effects.

Selected work