How to Build a Taxi Booking App Like Uber

Uber revolutionized the taxi booking business by taking it entirely online. The company was the product of a terrible taxi booking ecosystem in California before 2010. Since then, many companies have come up with similar taxi booking app models. The ease of opting for services and delighted customers are the reasons for the success of this business model.

Uber was designed to make taxi booking services far more reliable and more effortless. Another such brand, Lyft, conceived initially as a long-distance carpooling service, retuned its structure to compete against Uber. But, Uber had already made its trademark. So much so that words like Uberification and Uberization became the buzzwords and reframed the definitions of exemplary services.

Everybody across industries started using the phrase “Have your company been uberized” to ask whether their services are enhanced and on-demand or not. If you are looking forward to disrupting the ride-hailing market, this is where you should begin.

Ask yourself, “Have your services been uberized?”

Can you enhance the quality of your current services to make them on-demand? How will you disrupt the market just like Uber did with their unique idea?

If you’re just setting foot into the taxi booking business, you’d have this question: How to create an Uber-like app? And this is precisely what this article is about. So, if you are looking to invest your time and money to develop an app like Uber (or a taxi booking app), then this article is for you. We will cover the following things for you:

• How did Uber Manage to Set a Trademark?
• Reasons to Opt for Customized Taxi Booking App
• How Does a Taxi Booking App Work?
• How to Create an Uber-Like App: The Technology Stack
• Covid-19 Related Safety Features
• Complex Features in An App Like Uber
• How Much Does it Cost to Build an App Like Uber?
• How to Gain Competitive Advantage in the Current Taxi-Booking Ecosystem
• Revenue Model of a Taxi Booking App
• Pick the Right Taxi Booking App Development Partners

How Did Uber Manage to Set a Trademark?

So, what propelled the humongous growth of the ride-hailing behemoth: Uber!

Let’s jump back into where it all began.

Uber was just an idea that emerged in 2008 when two friends (Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp) meeting at a Paris conference couldn’t find a cab to go back to their hotels. What if we could only book a cab in seconds without calling dozens? And then boom! Uber, a revolutionary taxi booking app, was born.

• A solution to the travel problems faced by almost every single one of us.
• Allowing cab bookings with complete clarity regarding price, car type, and other items within seconds.
• Easy bookings via smartphone
• Autonomous kind of job
• Customer-centric business approach

Uber did not set out to do something revolutionary; instead, they created a simple software that would allow you to hail a cab. But it did the simplest thing most exceptionally.

As a result, today, Uber is valued at over a whopping $79 billion for its taxi-booking service in over 81 countries! Although the taxi-booking market existed even before Uber. Then what’s the big deal with Uber? Here’s a short answer to that question:

Reread the above five points; this is precisely what Uberification is! Uber was the first customized taxi booking app of its kind. Many businesses/entrepreneurs tried to clone Uber’s model and make similar taxi booking apps. It is 2021, and Uber still remains undefeated.

The reason: Its unique value proposition!

Uber did it, and so can you!

Reasons to Opt for Customized Taxi Booking App

Taxi booking app development keeps getting better and better by the day. It keeps making it easier for customers to book their rides with minimal effort. You might think that cloning the exact same thing and building a business out of it would be a win-win situation for all. But, it is far from the truth.

As cool as the app cloning approach sounds, it is not practical. After all, an original is worth more than a copy. With the proliferation of multiple cloning platforms, the overall quality and originality of mobile applications have taken a nosedive. Many entrepreneurs find themselves in the puddle of problems like up-charging, bad UI/UX, less scalability, and poor functionality.

The only solution to this problem is customized apps. Here are a few benefits:

On top of these factors, you may still think that creating an app by using the best app cloning platform is affordable. But, the quality of app functionality and appearance is relatively low in clone apps. Therefore, trying to salvage your app built with clone software may cost you even more than you would have spent on a custom app.

Entrepreneurs thus need to deliver taxi booking apps with a twist that will keep them ahead of the competition. Cloning isn’t cool – so if you’re planning to jump on the trend of app cloning or simply copying, think again.

Do you crave to develop an app like Uber or want to create something exceptional? Besides, If your taxi booking app development is in the hands of professional developers, the high functionality of the app can be ensured.

Kickstart your taxi booking business. The experience that you deliver through your application lies at the core of its development. Only development experts can bring an exceptional app together. If you are in the process of creating an app like Uber for your business, you must check out Biztech’s taxi booking app model.

 

How Does a Taxi Booking App Work?

Before you begin to create an app like Uber, the first thing is to know how it works. You can’t navigate through a map unless you know the origin and the destination.

A taxi booking app like uber acts as a connecting bridge between the consumer (rider) and the service provider (drivers). The taxi booking app is designed on a basic 5-steps foundation.

 

 

 

 

 

And that’s how an app like Uber works. But which features will you require to make this flow smooth and effortless for riders, drivers, as well as admins?

How to Create an Uber-Like App: The Technology Stack

Taxi booking app development requires both client and server-side development. It involves planning numerous functionalities like matching, cost calculation, location, guiding the way to the driver through Google map, fare calculation, commission subtraction, and rating. You’ll need a highly optimized central server to manage the interaction between riders and drivers in that world in real-time.

For this, you’ll need multiple geographically distributed servers to optimize response times, eliminate failures, and provide constant service availability. Let’s have an in-depth look.

Rider Features in a Taxi Booking App Like Uber

• Registration – Allows your customers to register or sign in via email and social media. If most of your customer base uses iOS, adding sign-in with Apple can help you stand out.
• Taxi Booking – Your customers can book a taxi by entering the address, selecting the type of car, and the location of the pickup
• Fare Calculator – Auto-calculates the total fare for the ride based on the KMs, car type, fuel prices, and the traffic
• Ride Tracking – Real-time tracking of driver activity to stay up-to-date with their travel route and estimated time of arrival
• Payment – Auto-payment feature with various payment options, including credit card, debit card, PayPal, and other e-wallets
• Messaging & Calling – Message/call the driver from the app.
• Driver Rating & Analysis – Provide driver rating based on the journey, car comfort, driver behavior, and so on
• Travel history – To show details from previous rides and transactions.

Features for Better Passenger Experience

• Pickup location – To enable passengers to locate the drivers at their location
• Ride cancellation – To cancel the ride within the time specified
• Split Payment – To share the ride fare with a few traveling fellows
• Vehicle Selection – Allows picking another driver for the trip
• Multiple Destinations – To add extra stops along the route
• Schedule for later – Allows passengers to book a trip at a selected time in advance
• Book for Others – Allows passengers to book for their friends, relatives from their account

Advanced Features For Riders

• Approximate Pickup Location – If a user doesn’t want to reveal their exact location, you can provide the option to add their approximate location and select pickup points accordingly.
• Interactive Map – Helps users track the driver’s movement in real-time. You can also show nearby rides and driver heatmaps.
• Gamification – Motivate users to take more rides to win special offers, points, badges, leadership boards, etc.
• Voice Recognition – This feature could be your unique selling point. Allow your users to give voice commands to the app to book a ride.

Drivers Features in a Taxi Booking App Like Uber

• Driver Profile & Status – Full driver information and verification (license, car insurance, etc.). Status to denote driver availability
• Trip Alert – Notifications to receive trip orders to accept or decline, including complete information on the location, route, and passenger detail.
• Push Notifications – On ride commencing, trip changes, and completion
• Navigation & Route Optimization – Provide the best and shortest trip route using Google Maps.
• Reports – Provide insights regarding trips and earnings on a daily/weekly/monthly basis.
• Communication – Texting or calling a passenger from the app

Advanced Features for Drivers

• Waiting time: Charging the passenger if the waiting time is more than 5 mins.
• Next Ride: Accepting another ride while completing the first
• Navigation – Let the drivers pick a suitable route from the best route options for the trip.
• Heat Maps – Provide the driver with heatmaps to find out the area that is the location from where the maximum riders are booking a taxi.

Admin Features of a Taxi Booking App Like Uber

A centralized approach is required for an Admin to manage the drivers and passengers, and the overall system; a complete management system.

For that, the Admin management system must have the following features:

• Customer and Driver Details Management (CRM)
• Booking Management
• Vehicle Detail Management (if self-owned)
• Location and Fares Management
• Call System Management
• Communication
• Ratings and Reviews
• Promotions and Discounts
• Payroll Management
• Content Management
• Customer Support and Help

As they say, actions speak louder than words; there is a huge difference between reading about the features and visually experiencing them work. If you’re still confused about how the features function and how things will work for your taxi booking app, try taking an interactive demo.

 

Covid-19 Related Safety Features

The world is gradually returning to its routine, despite the growing coronavirus cases. Thus, it would be valuable if your taxi booking app had advanced safety features that would benefit drivers and customers on the road.

1. Precaution measures verification

Every time a driver starts the ride, they need to go through a checklist. A real-time selfie would ensure the driver is wearing a mask, along with other information like completely sanitized, no COVID-19 symptoms, body temperature, etc.

The driver would be able to commence the ride after verifying all the info.

Similarly, the customer taking the ride would also be asked to take a selfie/photo with a mask on, and only after its confirmation can they book a ride.

2. COVID-19 Tracker

Integrate a tracker that would assist drivers and customers in tracking nearby COVID-19 patients and provide details of the total count in the area they are riding. With the help of a tracker, drivers can be sure if they want to take a ride or cancel it.

Security is a must, after all!

3. No fee ride cancellation

When a driver feels that the ride’s destination is not safe, then allow them to cancel the ride at no charge.

By allowing the COVID-19 tracker to capture the details of that region, you can automate this feature and give drivers an option:

Example: Area XYZ is a red zone.

Want to go on this ride?

Yes or no

Note: No fee would be charged

You can even add in this function

‘Not more than two passengers at one time.’

If a driver finds more than two people on arrival, they can cancel the ride without paying extra charges.

4. Ratings and reviews

Riders are asked for ratings based on various factors such as driver’s behavior, vehicle, etc. You may add another segment to it, asking if the driver has followed all the safety measures and precautions like masks, coverings, sanitizers, etc.

The benefit of this feature will be that it double-checks the overall safety. And this allows other customers to book with relief.

Complex Features in An App Like Uber

By now, we have the idea of the features that would make the taxi booking app a success. But are those basic features enough?

In my opinion, not so.

Hence, here are the additional must-have features for a robust Uber-like app.

Let’s take a look.

1. Fare Calculation

How do you think the fare for the trip is calculated?

Kms-based, huh? But does that do justice to the waiting time, traffic, and the time it takes for the drivers to complete the ride or the fuel prices?

And so, you can have an alternative way of calculating the fares. That’s by considering the traffic and calculating the minutes it will take for the driver to complete the ride. If it takes more than anticipated, the charges get added to the fare, or you can define a distance of particular kilometers. The fare would be calculated based on the minutes it takes to reach the destination.

Tracking distance and the time in real-time and auto-calculating the fare based on it is how the taxi booking app can help you be fair with your drivers and passengers.

2. Ride Searching

You can have a built-in radius threshold feature to help passengers find a suitable ride and your drivers a suitable trip.

You can mention a defined radius of, say, 10 km for passengers, and the drivers within that range would be alerted of the ride. Drivers, on the contrary, will be able to pick the distance they’d like to go. Say, 10 km in the passenger’s direction or the opposite path.

Only when both the parties, passengers and drivers, are in the range of 10 km, they would be notified of the ride details.

3. Payment Processing

Along with multiple payment options, you can provide an automated payment processing feature. And it works like this:

Upon completion of the ride, the payment would be auto-deduced from the credit/debit card of the passenger. The deducted payment will be automatically bifurcated into the share of drivers and the commission of Admin based on the given rates and credited to their respective accounts.

A rider sometimes pays the fare ahead of time only to be told that the driver has canceled the journey. As a leading mobile development service provider, we can support you with a taxi booking app with automatic refunds and other complex features.

How Much Does it Cost to Build an App Like Uber?

Biztech Consulting & Solutions assures you affordable pricing for the successful execution of taxi booking apps like Uber. While calculating the actual cost of developing an Uber app for Android and iPhone, the platform (Android or iOS) plays an essential role as it affects the total hours of developers. Without discussing the pricing of developing apps like Uber, here is a brief analysis of estimation for Uber app development.

The feature list mentioned here includes everything you would need to have a fully functional app. Our hourly rate would be around <$25/hour. For further queries, you can get in touch with us.

 

 

How to Gain Competitive Advantage in the Current Taxi-Booking Ecosystem

You will need a brilliant go-to-market strategy to stand out. You can’t repeat what Uber did. You need to create a different story, or else your taxi booking app may go unnoticed. It will not help you gain a competitive advantage in the current marketplace. There needs to be a uniqueness that users can remember. For technologies like taxi booking apps, innovation has become more critical.

Think Different and Innovate

Your taxi booking app must trigger an emotion that the users’ have never felt before. After all, it is all about user satisfaction. Along with this, you must also comply with the needs of your drivers. There are numerous ways to offer a unique value to both riders and drivers. Here are some strategies to help you improve your chances of success.

Driver Centric Value Proposition

• Easy registration
• Possibility to earn in peak hours
• Optimum insurance coverage
• Flexible working hours
• Higher fare charges during peak hours
• Bonuses on set targets

Rider Centric Value Proposition

• Real-time tracking the driver
• A fixed price for the common drop-off locations (like airports and railway stations)
• Free rides on various special occasions
• Discount for the first-time rider

Global Expansion

Global expansion is yet another unique value proposition that inspires people to prefer your brand. The more you expand, the more your target audience scales. Uber’s success itself indicates the same.

But there are still untapped markets where Uber hasn’t set foot yet. It includes Brunei, Malta, Iceland, Cyprus, and Luxembourg. This suggests that the service has some roadblocks, and the first business to find a way across them can expect lucrative rewards.

Ready With Your Innovative Idea?

If you want to stay relevant in this rapidly changing market, look no further. We have expertise in taxi booking app development. We can help you create an app like Uber and customize it as per your taste. Consider taking a demo!

 

Revenue Model of a Taxi Booking App

Taxi booking apps have three primary sources to earn money. These sources are:

1. Fees / Commission

Taxi booking apps like uber primarily earn from both the rider and driver. Their primary part of income comes through commission from the drivers. Apps like Uber charge drivers a certain commission for giving them business. It is usually equal to 20% – 35% of the driver’s total ride fare. Uber’s commission rates differ in different regions. These apps also charge fees from riders in the form of extra charges, i.e., ride cancellation charges, animal transportation charges, etc.

2. Sponsored Ads

Millions of people use taxi booking apps regularly. Hence, it is the right spot for companies to run their ads. The app showcases advertisements from various brands and companies across the world. They usually follow a cost-per-click model. Large corporations often collaborate with these apps to offer a discount on their products and services for users.

3. In-app Monetization

Because most apps are free at the point of installation, the app business model needs to be adjusted to equalize this. Hence, app monetization is a necessary aspect. There are lots of app monetization strategies and models in the market, some more popular than others. Two major ones are:

• Data MonetizationConsidering the large app audience, a data monetization model can be applied here. Whenever a user interacts with your app, they generate some data. This data information can be anonymized and quantified. It can provide valuable insights into customer behavior and can give insights into improving the overall user experience.The most significant benefit of using this model is that it does not hinder user experience in any way. Another benefit is that it is platform-independent, as the revenue is generated externally. It means that there’s no commission with the app stores. And you do not have to worry about which platform your app is most prominent on.
• Referral programTaxi booking apps generally use the referral model for inexpensive user acquisition. You may think that referrals cost a lot of money, but it’s the opposite that is true. Not only is it inexpensive, but it also has a high ROI. The only significant cost of your referral program is the amount you’re offering to your current users and new users, which by the way, isn’t as large as it seems.Let us take a look at the referral program of the Uber app. When any current user of Uber refers the app to a non-user, both of them get a $20 credit towards a ride, bringing their user acquisition cost to $40. This number may seem high, but it isn’t. A case study shows that an average customer of Uber spends $95 per month, with 25% of those fees going straight into Uber’s pocket. They can easily benefit from these new users depending on the duration of that new customer’s life cycle in the app. So even if the initial investment sounds high, there are strategies with which you can generate ROI at the speed of light.

To attain this, you need to brainstorm all the monetization methods and find out the best one. As a development company, our developers dive deep into the app features and bring out the best possible monetization strategy model for that app.

Pick the Right Taxi Booking App Development Partners

By providing you with all the features that Uber has, the complex, and the safety features that your taxi booking app must have along with your additional requirements. And to get all this done, you would need many technologies, integrations, backend developments, and other complexities.

We have expertise in various technologies and can help you with:

• Application Framework
• Programming Languages
• JavaScript Framework
• Cloud Storage
• Cloud Hosting
• Automation Frameworks
• Voice and SMS API for SMS, Voice, and Phone Verification
• GPS and Tracker Integration
• Messaging & Communication
• Global Payment
• SQL Data Storage

Wrapping up

Companies like Uber and Lyft have not entirely captured the taxi booking market. A lot of opportunities are still left in the business. If you identify a niche and focus on the unique value proposition, you can create a profitable taxi booking app business.

You only need an out-of-the-box idea and a successful implementation of that idea. The more innovative you get, the more lucrative your taxi-booking app becomes. If you want a solution that best fits your business needs, we can help you get your taxi booking app with features built from scratch. We specialize in taxi booking app development for Android, iOS, and cross-platform apps.

Suppose you need help and guidance along the way to build an app like uber, or you want to outsource the project to an exceptionally talented and experienced team of developers. In that case, you should consider taking a demo. We have the best developers from around the world to help you develop your dream taxi booking app.

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