Riders feel the brand.
Drivers keep it alive.
Saathi — Hindi for companion — is Suggaa’s driver app, and it’s where ride-hailing is actually won or lost. A driver who feels like a second-class user drives for someone else.
Ten hours a day on one screen.
Drivers live in this app through whole shifts, so it optimises for the things they check between rides: today's earnings against a daily target they set themselves, payments that reconcile cleanly, and the next job arriving loudly enough to act on. The design bet was respect — give drivers the same craft the riders get, because the supply side is the product.
The flows go deep where driver reality goes deep: onboarding with document checks a first-time gig worker can finish without a helpdesk, off-duty and low-connectivity states, cancellation scenarios designed jointly with the rider side, and a car-ownership track for drivers working toward their own vehicle.
On duty, off duty, and the next job.
The supply side stayed.
Saathi kept Suggaa's fleet on the road across two cities and five vehicle classes — the quiet half of reaching 25,000+ riders. Same design language as the rider app, same system underneath — one product, seen from both sides of the windshield.
Two-sided products need both sides designed with the same respect — that’s the work I lead.