The life of traditional taxi service has become almost unbearable in the last five years. The competition has become intense; customer loyalty almost nonexistent and cheaper transport is stepping in. Uber takes the market away from the traditional taxi businesses through taxi booking apps. The reality is that Uber like taxi will stay in the market and the world will be never the same again for the traditional taxi business.
May be you are a person running a taxi business or perhaps someone looking into developing an independent taxi dispatch app development. Whatever the case, a mobile solution is necessary. Let’s discuss the varieties of taxi apps that can be build and how they are developed and how this is delivered with the modern technologies.
Taxi booking app: An extension of your taxi business
There are various taxi booking apps on the market. One type is the app suited to established taxi business who own their own cars and drivers. These are apps, which are used as extensions of business. With a mobile app for the existing service a taxi company can make it easier for customers to book a ride along with expanding the client base.
Taxi booking app as an independent booking service
If you don’t have a garage full of cabs but still inspired to enter the taxi market, then its like an option used by Uber where you can provide mobile booking service to the taxi drivers. This can be done in a simpler and complex way.
1. A simple taxi booking app solution
This simple taxi app solution involves a single app for the customers which contains a list of cab services with its process and ability to call and order a cab directly from the app. You may add a destination in the map and calculate the approximate price of the ride. For this, you don’t even need a server. Keep in mind that the apps database should be monitored and updated frequently to manage the price changes.
2. A taxi app like Uber
This is a fully featured taxi booking solution, which will need you to invest in the backend development in addition to the front end, as you will need another server. For this, you need to establish partnerships with taxi companies and offer them the app with two discrete interfaces- one for the riders and other for the drivers.
With the help of GPS, the current location of the rider in need of the taxi and the nearest driver is identified. Monitoring the driver’s location is the most important in this case of taxi solution. To get upto-date information about this request can be sent to the server every hour, every minute or every second with whatever frequency you require. This is how you build an app like Uber in brief.
Uber-like app features and technology stack
For taxi app development, technology is the very important, but not as important as the value that a taxi app can provide to the drivers and the riders. Uber have succeeded by attacking a vulnerable market with their mobile app which was customer focused. Unlike the traditional taxi services, Uber was also best at- convenience, professionalism and reliability.
Therefore, if you are thinking of developing a taxi business, it’s recommendable to define the app value first
How to achieve convenience, reliability and professionalism
To begin your business with a taxi app you should first hire a taxi app development company who can build the following features:
1. Location tracking
Uber tracks your location even when you are not using the app and this helps to get the driver location within seconds. Once the booking is made, the rider gets a countdown until the driver arrives. This helps the passengers to get rid of their worry of the taxi not showing up, which is often the case with traditional taxi services.
You can also track the rider’s location if they have shared the personal location data and the permission to access it.
2. Build in maps and traffic data
The navigation experience given to the drivers in an Uber like app has greatly helped the drivers. Uber uses variety of services for this where the main source of location data is google maps. They also uses Microsoft’s Bing mapping, startup deCarta etc.
Since Uber operates globally, navigation should be taken pretty seriously. If you don’t plan for a global expansion then you might not need location data sources. For iOS taxi app development Apple’s map kit framework can be used to embed a fully functional map interface in to your app. Using google maps is the best choice. Nothing can be better than a google map anyway.
3. Fare Calculation
Hearing the phrase ‘taxi price calculation’, a meter mount dashboard come into mind. However, this is not the way cab-booking apps operate. Taxi app calculates fare using 4 components
• Base Fare
• Cost per minute
• Cost per mile
• Booking fee
The cost per mile is calculated with the help of GPS according to the mileage and company price list. The price is then submitted to the rider before the cab arrives.
4. Payment system integration
Uber’s automated payment almost feels like payment less payments since you don’t have to reach your pockets and hand over the cash. You can include options like pay with cash, pay with credit card. With cash payment, you should make sure the client’s mind does not change before the taxi arrives.
5. Rating system
Uber is more reliable than the traditional taxi services. This is achieved by giving both the riders and drivers more information than traditional taxi services both before and during the ride and by implementing a rating system in the app. The rating system increases the drivers and riders sense of control and security.
Before getting down to implement your taxi business idea, consider the other established apps that h
