Development of a rider app for an on-demand ride-sharing service
Highlights
- Rider-facing app for pooled transportation
- Recommended pickup points instead of a fully free pickup selection
- Multiple payment methods in one application
- Configuration-driven rollout for new platforms and cities
- Seasonal and thematic UI updates
- Deep third-party service integration
Client
The client is a ride-sharing startup with a broader ecosystem for riders, drivers, onboarding, and partner operations. The rider app is the main user-facing part of the product. It serves standard users who need a simple interface for booking rides and managing transportation in supported cities. SoftTeco worked on the rider-side product as part of the larger system and supported its development over time.
Challenge
The rider app had to support a transportation model that differed from the typical taxi flow. Users could not always choose any pickup point they wanted. Instead, the platform proposed certain pickup points, and one vehicle could cover multiple reserved locations in a single trip. That required clear UX, strong map logic, and reliable integrations. The app also had to support different payment models, external services, and flexible market rollout without forcing the team to build a new product for every city or variation.
Solution
SoftTeco helped develop a mobile app that gives riders a simple way to book rides, view recommended pickup points, contact drivers, and pay through a wide range of supported methods. The app is designed to be highly configurable. It supports multiple external services, flexible payment options, and a setup that makes it easier to create new platforms and handle seasonal updates.
Tech Stack
Components
mParticle
Leanplum
Google Maps
JSON
Radar
AWS
How it works
A large part of SoftTeco’s work focused on flexibility at scale. We introduced a configuration-first approach in which many settings were stored in JSON files and applied during the build process. This made it easier to launch new platform versions from templates and support rollout across different markets without rebuilding the app each time.
We also implemented a seasonal configuration mechanism. That gave the client a practical way to roll out temporary visual updates, such as theme-specific icons, without turning short-term changes into hardcoded redesign work. It was a small feature on the surface, but it made the product much easier to manage over time.
Another important part was integration. The app supported payment methods including cards, cash, Google Pay, Apple Pay, PayPal, vouchers, and OpalPay, and relied on services such as Leanplum, Radar, mParticle, Amazon AWS, and Google Maps. SoftTeco had to make those services work as a single product, along with location logic, databases, and HTTPS requests. That integration-heavy setup was critical because mapping, booking, payment, and communication all had to work in one rider flow.
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Results
SoftTeco helped create a rider app that supported pooled-ride booking, market-specific rollout, and a broad set of integrations in a single product. The configuration-driven setup made it easier to launch new platform variations and introduce temporary updates without rebuilding core logic. For the client, that means a rider product that can evolve faster and support the operational complexity of a growing ride-sharing platform.
