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Uber steered the revolution among taxi businesses by introducing on-demand apps. What started as waving hands at taxis gradually transformed into a few taps on smartphones. One needn’t walk down the lane nor worry about fares at the end of the trip. A seamless interface to bridge the gap between drivers and passengers has made it possible for people to avail taxis anywhere and anytime. Fast forward ten years, there are numerous taxi apps nowadays competing with, or even outplaying, Uber.
One such taxi app that has gained the spotlight in the US, UK, and Canada is the Riide taxi app. As Riide begins to gain a stronghold of the US and the UK market, it is pretty apparent that the online taxi market provides a ‘level-playing’ field. An entrepreneur with the right approach and intent can become the next big taxi app on the market.
Are you an entrepreneur who wishes to develop a taxi app like Riide? If so, this blog provides you a detailed overview to launch an on-demand taxi app, right from the app development technique to the features you wish to integrate into the platform. Let’s dive straight in.
The pivotal development stages
Transforming your visions and ideas into a taxi app is no easy feat. You will need a dedicated team of business analysts, developers, graphic designers, marketers, etc. It is advisable to consider milestones or landmarks during app development and work imperatively towards achieving those within deadlines. These stages include,
- Market research: It is pointless to set foot into any sector without extensive market research. By the end of market research, you’ll know your competitors and customer expectations, thereby having an ideal vision.
- Designing the UI/UX: The next major milestone is app design. Unless and until your interface is simple, informative, and minimalistic, you cannot gain traction among the audience. App design involves wireframing and prototyping.
- Front-end development: Arguably, the most crucial part of your entire journey is developing the front-end. Loading features and functionality into the platform constitute the taxi app’s front-end development.
- Developing the back-end: Similar to the front-end, back-end development is critical as well. This stage involves incorporating servers and databases to sustain app traffic and secure user details.
- Testing the app: A major chunk of your development process gets done once the testing phase begins. Running the app through a litany of tests can help you avoid bugs and defects, leading to the launch of a fail-proof taxi app.
- Launching the app: The final stage in app development is to establish the on-demand taxi app across the Android & iOS platforms.
As an entrepreneur, you need to know these stages as you can make informed decisions after knowing each stage in detail.
The development technique – Based on your resources
Now that you are familiar with the app development stages, it is time to decide your best-suited technique. The popular ways of developing a taxi app include,
- Developing from the ground up: In this method, an entrepreneur hires a team of freelance developers or approaches an app development company to build an app from scratch. This conventional technique consumes a minimum of 3-5 months and incurs a hefty budget. As a result, this method is suitable for established entrepreneurs.
- Opting for ready-made clone apps: A budding entrepreneur needn’t take the burden of app development. An app development company does the job of developing the app and rolls out clone app solutions. You can customize the ultra-modern Uber clone app based on your needs. You can launch a taxi app like Riide or Uber within a matter of a few days. Another notable aspect is that these solutions are incredibly pocket-friendly.
Assess your resources to identify your best-suited technique.
The stakeholders and the trendsetting features
If there’s one factor that has the capability to captivate the audience instantly, it is the features. Features are those elements that come in direct contact with the audience, providing them an unparalleled app experience.
In a taxi app, there are three stakeholders involved. They include,
- Customers who demand taxis.
- Drivers who provide taxi services.
- The admin who supervises the entire system.
Developing separate apps for these stakeholders, and loading features into them is critical to scale your taxi business massively.
Features of Customer app:
- Registration: Users can register by specifying their information or logging in via social media handles.
- Search taxis: After enabling the location preferences, users search for taxis in the vicinity.
- Fare calculator: By entering the pick-up and drop-off destinations, the app displays the list of taxis with their fares.
- Multiple payment options: Users can pay for their taxi rides using multiple payment options like credit/debit cards, digital wallets, net banking, etc.
- Real-time tracking: Users can track their assigned driver locations in real-time, thereby knowing the estimated arrival time of the taxis.
- Ratings and reviews: Users can rate and review their ride experience as feedback for the display of fellow users.
Features of Driver app:
- Registration and verification: Drivers register with the platform by specifying necessary information and uploading necessary documents for verification.
- Availability toggle: Drivers can switch between their availability with the aid of a toggle option. They become invisible to take rides whenever they switch off their availability.
- Accept/Reject rides: Drivers can accept/reject rides based on their availability and preferences.
- Earnings profile: Drivers can view their daily/weekly/monthly earnings in the form of detailed reports.
Features of the Admin panel:
- God’s eye view: As the controlling authority, the admin can monitor the app activity from a single place.
- Heat map: The admin can view those areas with high demand and reroute drivers accordingly.
- Manage transactions: The admin processes transactions between drivers and passengers after the necessary commission cut-down.
- Manage customers: The admin can resolve customer queries by hearing feedback and taking corrective action.
Conclusion
Taxi apps like Riide have gained a stronghold of the market with their overall taxi solutions. As an entrepreneur, having an end-to-end robust taxi app like Uber can help you elevate your chances of success substantially. Reach out to an app development company and integrate your app development today.
Credit Article: Fiverr vs 99designs
Also read: How to perform smart app testing with mobile app developer tools
