Hello there! Starting a taxi business has almost become a fashion these days. Aided with technology, launching a ride-hailing app has become a mere cakewalk. If there are businesses that have a higher adoption rate, then on-demand taxi services are one among them.
Having said that, there is a high demand for ride-hailing services; it is equally challenging to position the business. As we all know that the taxi marketplace is overcrowded with different service providers like Uber, Lyft, Grab, etc., you must certainly add some value propositions to make your service more prominent.
If you are wondering how to highlight your service, here are some useful insights to consider.
- Unique value proposition
In layman’s terms, unique value propositions are the benefits your service provides your users. For example, look at the value propositions of Uber. They offer budget-friendly rides and on-time services. If you are concerned about the value propositions, you can concentrate on providing rides at affordable prices and offer timely services.
- Find a niche
If you are about to roll out your taxi services, then you must focus on a particular niche so that you will gain the spotlight. There are different types of transportation services you can consider offering. It includes bike taxis, e-scooters, ride-sharing services, etc., The more is the number of services, the more is the user base.
- Global presence
Before rolling out your business, you must find the country or region that has higher demand and less competition. For example, Uber is banned in certain countries like Hungary, Denmark, Thailand, Canada, etc., You can definitely consider offering your services in these countries. It is just an example to let you know how you can capture the marketplace. Identify your potential customers and offer services accordingly.
- Luxury ride-hailing services
Other than usual rides, it is appreciable to provide luxurious rides, thereby proliferating your business to the next level. You might be familiar with Uber’s black cars. Black cars are luxury vehicles that are of business class. Charges for black cars are high compared to normal rides.
Another popular ride-hailing services company in HYPR that offers luxury rides. They employ sophisticated cars like Lamborghini and Gelentwagen for their luxury ride-hailing services.
Stages involved in building your taxi app
- Plan your goals
- Technical documentation
- Develop the MVP
Plan your goals
You will have certain visions for your business, right? Framing out the goals of your business is the first step in your business. You must find out the potential customers, your niche, and your value propositions. Once you frame all these, you can head to the app developer.
Technical documentation
Once you are all set with your goals, you will approach the app developer and tell your requirements. All your requirements will be documented by your app developer, which will act as a blueprint for the application.
Develop the MVP (Minimum viable product)
The minimum viable product is the early version of the app that contains only the basic features and functionalities. Startups can get benefitted from the MVP model, as they can deploy the app with less investment. Yet, you can always scale up the app in later stages by adding extra features or functionalities based on the user requirements.
Till now, we have been seeing the stages involved before launching Uber clone taxi app. Now, let us learn the features to be included in the taxi app.
Core features of the taxi app
- Sign up and sign in
Users, including both passengers and drivers, must get themselves registered on the app. Registration details include name, contact number, address and email ID. Users who have already signed up for the app can directly enter the login credentials and access the app.
- Request taxis
Passengers can place taxi requests by mentioning the source and destination locations. Based on this information, the driver will reach out to the passenger’s location.
- Trip fare
Letting users know the trip fare in advance is one of the core features of on-demand taxi services. The app is incorporated with a trip rate calculator that will take the location details as input and display the fare. Other details considered for calculating the trip fare includes peak hours, demand, etc.,
- Online payments
In this digital world, it would be obsolete to have only cash payments. Let users make online payments via different options like cards, Google Pay, Stripe, Braintree, Amazon Pay, and numerous other payment options.
- Geolocation
Geolocation will guide the drivers in finding the location of the passengers. Also, this feature will track the movement of the vehicle and alerts the driver when the vehicle exits a specific boundary.
- Push notifications
Users will receive in-app alerts in the form of push notifications. For example, they will receive updates regarding their rides, payments, and other app-related alerts.
How to monetize from the ride-hailing business?
If you are stuck with ways to earn revenue from the taxi business, here is the list of revenue channels.
- Service charges
You can impose service charges for every booking by the passenger. Other than this, you can also impose service charges for processing the payments.
- Cancellation fees
Charging cancellation fees is normal in taxi services. Make sure the cancellation charges are nominal, failing which passengers will abandon your services.
- Third-party promotions and ads
Ads and promotions will bring steady income to your business. You can charge for ads on the basis of CPC (cost-per-click) or CPI (cost-per-impression).
Conclusion
As said earlier, ride-hailing businesses are highly competitive. To stay ahead of the competition, your business strategy and the taxi booking app must play well. Uber clone is the popular ride-hailing app solution that is being adopted by many entrepreneurs. You, too, can consider this app and popularise your services.
