Developing a taxi application allows a business to reach a new level of operational performance, maintain competition, and acquire new customers. New technologies help young companies gain confidence and occupy new niches. It's the tech that makes startups develop faster and launch with confidence. Traditional taxi services with dispatchers are fading into the background because the majority adopt mobile solutions. This guide will help you assess the prospect of introducing a new taxi application and understand how to do it right.
Examples of Successfully Implemented Taxi Applications
Before deciding to develop, take a look at the existing solutions. How other companies have implemented digital tools and what benefits they provide. Here are some of the prime examples of successful application adoption:
- Uber. One of the number one players in the taxi industry operates in 630 cities around the globe, with around 93 million users per month. The company appeared in 2009 and was one of the first to introduce modern technologies and solutions into such a business. They have come a long way before achieving stunning results. They were the pioneers, one of the first to introduce taxi applications into their business in the United States.
- Lyft. The application's goal is to organize long-distance travel for passengers and drivers. It is a direct competitor to Uber, which appeared in 2012. But, later, it grew into a large taxi service, providing favorable conditions for customers.
- Curb. This taxi app has spread around 65 cities in the United States, with more than 50,000 cars in the fleet. Besides finding the driver on the spot, a user has the ability to book a trip in advance.
- Grab. The application works in Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and several other countries in Southeast Asia. Regular sedans or SUVs are not the only options for the users; the service also offers bicycles, motorcycles, and other vehicles. A convenient application for tourists, it is actively used among residents of countries.
- Gett. A well-established application in the USA and Europe. A passenger can book a trip even two weeks in advance. Also, there is round-the-clock support. It is a popular application for taxi drivers because the app charges only a 10% commission fee.
Wezom provides taxi app development as one of the services. We select unique solutions. Despite the traditional functionality, we develop tools that demonstrate your competitive advantages to the client. If you are interested in the development process and nuances, you should check out some of the projects we did on our website.
How Is an Application For a Taxi Developed?
What it takes to develop a taxi application:
- Analytics for business tasks. It is crucial to immediately understand what functionality the app must have, how it will be helpful for customers, and what benefits the company will get. At this stage, we forecast the return on investments, study the possibility of scaling and developing the company's digital tools. We carry out detailed analytics, evaluate competitors, and discover the target audience.
- Determining the goals. Calling a taxi is of first importance, but that's not all. You can use the app to rent cars, offer cargo transportation services, integrate scooter and bicycle rental services. What are the main goals of the application? It is critical to determine them in the beginning.
- Assessing the market situation and determining the uniqueness. There is no need to create a competitor to Uber - it will be tough to compete with them. It is enough to find unique traits in your company and present them to the client: exactly how Shebah did it. The app is for female drivers only, and it has become a unique proposition for customers.
- Drawing up a technical assignment. When the goals are clear in terms of the points mentioned above, the next step is to draw up a technical task for specialists. Here we select technology stack, solutions, tools and create a prototype.
- Design and development stage. This is the most substantial and the longest stage. Choose a development team that can bring your idea to life. The team creates the application interface, prepares the design, develops the functionality. At Wezom, we have a dedicated team to implement your project.
- Testing and launching the application. We check the app for operability, integrate third-party services, and launch the application.
- Marketing and Promotion. In addition to launching the application, we need to present it to potential customers in the best way possible. For this, we help you apply marketing strategies, advertise, and select, plan, and execute individual solutions for customers allowing the increase in customer loyalty.
Here is how the development of applications for taxi services takes place. Although the creation is not too fast, and the cost of implementation is relatively high, the digital tool quickly pays off and brings tremendous benefits to the business.
What The Functionality of an Application for a Taxi Service Should Be
It is possible to create a taxi application that is simple yet effective. The functionality may differ, so we recommend custom development for your own app. But usually, the tools of a proper application should look like this:
- registration in a personal account for each member of the system;
- driver, passenger profile;
- taxi ordering tools, trip information;
- driver and passenger management tools for administrators;
- tariff calculations, profit tracking tools;
- route navigation;
- payment instruments, financial statements;
- notifications;
- tools for assessing system participants: reviews, ratings;
- chats, messaging, the ability to make a call;
- travel history;
- support;
- analytical tools.
Additionally, a taxi app can have other integrations, including gamification systems, a loyalty program, travel booking tools, maps with popular or favorite places, artificial intelligence technologies for voice recognition, and other tools that ensure the effective operation of the application can come in handy.
How The Taxi App Works
Despite the variety of functionality, the principle of taxi applications' functionality is similar. It is not surprising because the companies operate in the same segment and provide the same services to the client. Taxi apps work according to the following principle:
- The client requests a trip through the application, specifying the data: the starting and endpoint, additional data (transportation of children, animals, oversized cargo, and others).
- The server part of the system allows you to calculate the cost of a trip based on many factors and offer the client options for the service: economy, standard, comfort, and others.
- The passenger chooses a suitable travel option and confirms it by agreeing to the cost.
- The driver receives a notification about the trip, examines the information, and decides whether to implement the order. As a rule, the system distributes orders according to the principle of priority or more comfortable geolocation.
- The driver picks up the passenger and takes them to their destination.
- The customer pays for the service according to the selected method during registration. It can be a cash payment, automatic debiting if the client has a card attached or non-cash payment.
- After the end of the trip, the passenger can assess the quality of the services provided by rating and leaving a review. The driver can do the same.
- If difficulties arise, disputable situations, or third-party intervention is required, the dispatcher receives information and connects to the business process. In addition, all data about the trip also goes to the dispatcher.
Some work features may differ, but the features mentioned above are prevalent in how the app interacts with the client, driver, and dispatcher.
Taxi App Development Costs
The cost of creating a quality application for taxi service varies depending on many factors. It is difficult to determine the exact price until the tasks and implementation plan are clear. It can take a couple of months to develop a taxi application. The functionality can be simple, but it must work and cope with its tasks. If that's the case, MVP development would be the right solution for you. If you know what you are doing and have the budget to execute a full product, it may take more than a year to develop; the agency will have to attract many specialists to implement the functionality.
The cost is determined depending on the tasks. On average, a taxi service can get an application for $ 10,000 and up. A more accurate price will be known only after discussing the project details during the discovery phase of the development cycle.
Therefore, if you have an idea or a plan, come to our office, call or send us an email and let's schedule a consultation. During the consultation, we will discuss the details and be able to understand the estimated price. We will help you implement a digital product and integrate it into your business. Let's make something powerful together!
