Today, when we talk about a taxi, it will be challenging for us to visualize what the situations were about more than a decade ago. We can no longer think about randomly waving at one of the yellow vehicles that keep plying the roads of cities, hopping in, telling the driver where to go, instructing the driver on the directions, and at the end of the trip, haggling with the driver regarding the cost.
The immediate vision that comes to your mind when we talk about cabs
- The act of taking out our smartphones,
- Launching an app,
- Using the GPS to pinpoint our location,
- he app searches for cabs around us,
- In a matter of minutes, we have a driver standing right at our doorstep/location waiting for us to step into their car.
It cannot be denied that transportation at large and taxi-specific has moved towards the app space completely. It has become rather mandatory for any cab business to have a mobile app as an extension of their business offering.
Why should you go for a taxi app?
On one side, we can say that people have gotten used to the concept of booking a cab using a mobile app. In addition, there are a few more advantages that should convince you not to skip a mobile app for your taxi business.
It all comes down to money! With the taxi app, and with sufficient data on distance, traffic, and demand, you can give an estimate of the ride. This would mean that there is no need for haggling and bargaining at the end or at the start of the trip.
Payments are moving towards the digital space. With a taxi app, you can use payment methods like credit cards, debit cards, Internet banking, and even native wallets to power your payments. This might not be possible if you were to stick to the classic cash model.
There might be a person who desperately needs a cab at a place, and there might be a taxi driver who desperately needs a ride-booking in the very next street. However, it might not be possible to connect both these parties because they cannot see each other. With a mobile app, this problem of connecting the demand and the supply gets effectively solved because of the GPS . This translates into better availability for customers and better profit for drivers.
Above everything, using a mobile app diversified the channels for earning revenue. While one of the revenue channels will be the commission that the cab business earns from the drivers, there are multiple avenues like subscriptions, advertisements, third-party collaborations, and a lot more.
More than just the app…
The app marketplace has become crowded, and it should not be forgotten that the entire on-demand revolution started with Uber, a ride-hailing provider. Therefore, if you need to stand out from your competition, your app needs to be garnished with features that make it appealing. Some on the surface and some under the hood.
When a user opens the app, the first thing and, in most cases, perhaps the only thing they need is a cab. Therefore, the process of booking a cab should be made simple, intuitive, and seamless. The simplicity should not be limited to booking a cab but should also include the process of signing up and making a payment.
To facilitate simplicity and an intuitive flow of steps, your app should be wrapped in a user-friendly design. When we talk about design competence, we are not confining ourselves to the colors, the fonts, and the placements. We will also need to take into consideration factors like the size of the buttons and the reach of the clickable entities when being used with one hand.
What makes you stand apart from the competition at very first sight is your unique selling proposition, commonly abbreviated USP. Market research is of vital importance when it comes to incorporating these selling features in your app. Simple features like call masking, Geo-fencing, calling and chatting within the app, and SOS buttons can help grow your customer base.
Under the hood, you will need to ensure that you use the latest technology stack. Although it might not be a direct selling point, it ensures that you become more capable of handling new features because only the latest technology can accommodate the latest utility. Above everything, outdated technology is quite susceptible to malicious attacks leading to a massive compromise on security.
The market and the marketability
When it comes to the United Kingdom, much like the rest of the world, the COVID-19 pandemic was a game-changer for taxi businesses. The market that was growing steadily from 2015 witnessed a huge plummet in 2020. The revenues were in the order of about $11 billion in 2019, and it took a massive plunge to about $7.1 million in 2020. While 2021 will be considered the year of growth, it will be all positive from 2022 onwards. Therefore, 2021 is probably the best year for an aspiring entrepreneur to start a taxi app business in the United Kingdom.
Now that the marketability and the market growth has been established, the next step would be to build your own taxi app. Building one from scratch, however, could be quite a cumbersome and daunting affair. Alternatively, you can consider using an Uber clone. An Uber clone script is easy to customize and can be made to bear features and branding elements according to your business requirements.
The core features
1.Irrespective of you going for an Uber clone app. You will need to ensure that a few features are in place, so the app can execute the intended function without any hassle.
2.The app should feature a simple sign up/sign-in procedure. In addition to using the email address and phone number, people should also be able to login using existing credentials like Google and Facebook. In all of this, it is to be remembered that the phone number is a mandatory detail.
3.The GPS is the epicenter of the on-demand revolution, and it should be noted that your app needs to have sufficient permissions to access the location and to push notifications. The location should come in handy not only to help the driver reach the user and navigate to the destination but also to keep the user updated on the movement of the driver.
4.You will need to incorporate a proper review and rating system. This will ensure that both customers and drivers exhibit professional and courteous behavior. It is to be remembered that everyone who offers services in an on-demand ecosystem is a gig worker and the rules that apply to an employee might not apply here.
5.Needless to say, integration with a versatile payment gateway is a must for an app like Uber. The payment gateway should be able to support multiple payment systems.
Conclusion
The United Kingdom has a long and rich legacy of people using cabs for transportation. The Uber clone app will be just another addition to the existing system of transportation. Still in the near future, it is expected to be the most prominent system of transportation. Therefore, investing in developing an app like Uber is a great business idea. It is fueled by the post-pandemic lifestyle changes which might passively prompt people to use private modes of transportation like cabs instead of looking at public transport.
Now that the opportunity is evident and lucrative, you need to share your requirement with a company that specializes in the development and customization of clones of Uber. With the details like the design, the Uber clone price, and the timelines, you will understand that it will not take a long time for you to launch your own ride-hailing on-demand app.
