I ride cabs every now and then. More often now with the weather getting colder and my bike just doesn’t cut it at 20 degrees. When credit card machines first arrived a few years ago in the NYC Taxis, I almost always still paid with cash. I wasn’t used to using a credit card in this way and I felt guilty for some reason since I had heard all these stories about the cab drivers not loving them. Fast forward to 2010 and I’ve changed the way I pay for my chauffeured ride across town. A few blocks from where I plan to get out, I’ll start slipping my American Express out of my wallet. Once the meter stops, I start the process. And now here is where I begin my frustrations. As an interactive designer, I’m always looking at how digital pieces are designed. ATM machines, the check out at Gristedes, refilling my Metro Card, unlocking the Zip Car from my iPhone, we’re constantly seeing interactive design from great to pretty terrible. I can go on about interactive pieces I think are great but no, this blog entry is about the User Interface in New York Taxi Cab credit card devices. It’s among what I would classify under pretty terrible UI design. Let me take you through the scenario:

1. How would you like to pay?
   I tap “Credit Card” on the left side of the screen.
2. Enter Tip, 25%, 20%, 15% or enter your own amount
   Button: “Ok” or “Back”
   I enter my tip and I press “Next” and then am taken back to the “How would you like to pay screen?” —Wait what??! I proceed to try this again.

Second take and I’m annoyed and in a rush now since the lady on the sidewalk is waiting to take this cab and the driver is looking agitated. Ok! Here I go.

1. “How would you like to pay?”
   Again, I tap “Credit Card” on the left side of the screen.
2. Enter Tip, 25%, 20%, 15% or enter your own amount
   Button: “Ok” or “Back”
   I try and be fast so I enter my tip and I press “Next” and THEN….YUP!…. I am taken back to the “How would you like to pay screen?” —Ok, what is going ON here?!

Third try, super agitated, the lady is now giving me the death stare, the cab behind us is honking like there is no tomorrow and the driver is saying I should just give him cash. NO! Why is this not working?! OK, I try this once more. I calm myself down and I proceed again. This time with a bit more suspicion and carefulness despite my pressure to exit immediately.

1. “How would you like to pay?”
   Here we go again, I tap “Credit Card” on the left side of the screen.
2. Enter Tip, 25%, 20%, 15% or enter your own amount
   Button: “Ok” or “Back”
   Ok, this is where it gets messed up…. the “OK” button… AH HA! The “OK” button is located on the bottom LEFT. The “Back” button is located on the button RIGHT. Now why would I press a button on the bottom left side to go FORWARD (in essence, “right”)?! I proceed to press the poorly located “Ok” button as I shake my head and my transaction finally appears to go through.

Now, this may seem like a small thing but really, when you think about it, this wastes a lot of time. Let’s think about this. We have a lady waiting for her cab outside who is now late to where she has to go and she’s frustrated on top of that, there’s a whole bunch of cabs piling up behind with a whole bunch of passengers who are also going to be late now as well and now they are getting frustrated, the cab driver I’m holding up is getting frustrated since this is his busy time and he’s losing money every minute he waits for me to try and make my way through a seriously bad designed credit card machine. Oh, and let’s not forget me. I’m beyond frustrated at this point. Ok, so I’ve finally paid for my cab ride but it comes with a crowd of anxiety driven New Yorkers and me shaking my head as I leave the cab and think, wow, a simple switcheroo with the “Ok” button and the “Back” button and all this would be solved. Yup, sometimes, the solution is just that, a simple switcheroo.