Gone are those days when passengers used to wait to hire a taxi, which usually depended on luck based on its availability. However, with our little smart devices in our hands these days, we can book a cab instantly, even while sitting at home.
But one thing that happens is we end up opening or registering for several cab-booking apps to look for the lowest fares. Because different vendors charge different rates for the same trip.
We all have been there when we keep toggling between numerous cab booking apps, like Uber, Ola, Lyft, Sidecar, etc., to check which one is charging the minimum fare. In such a scenario, it’s often difficult to choose the right taxi booking app, especially when one is in a hurry!
And on top of that, most of the taxi booking apps would require you to enter your location or personal details individually in each of them, thus making the process way longer. This is where a taxi fare comparison app comes to your rescue.
Therefore, we need a more comprehensive app that enables us to compare the cab fares of multiple vendors under one roof. You can now book the right cab with the lowest fare rates on the go! And the best part is you don’t even need to register in each of those individual cab booking apps to know the rates offered by them.
Isn’t that interesting? The taxi-booking industry already has had a good market share in recent years. However, it needs an additional app, which can help the consumers make the best decision when it comes to booking a ride.
Because, after all, most of us would look for an economical ride. Read on to learn about the various features provided by these price comparison apps for taxi rides. This article will also guide you if you have a similar idea in mind.
The app gathers all the necessary data, such as from user inputs and during the user query. Some examples of user queries include the unique identification number for application installation and a GPS sample of the current location of the user.
The former is beneficial for associating the customers with their submitted queries to help them serve better in the coming days. Once the app collects all this essential user data, it is passed over to the servers for further computation and analysis.
If you use a smooth and flexible architecture framework, it will move as much of the app’s logic as possible to the server side.
By using this approach, you can avoid app delays that may arise from the approval times required by the App Store, especially when minor app modifications are made or bug issue corrections that need to be done.
Read more: How to Create a Ride-Sharing Mobile App in 2023?
The business models for owners/operators and aggregators come with their own advantages and challenges. Here’s a brief comparative study about both:
| For Whom | Advantages | Challenges |
|---|---|---|
| Owner/Operator | People owning a single car can use it for providing passenger pick-and-drop services and make some money for it. | Those who are starting a chain of businesses would need to invest a significant amount of capital in the cab service industry. Besides, the maintenance and operational services and their associated costs are the owner’s/operator’s responsibility. |
| Aggregators | Aggregators can receive a commission from their car owner or operator after each customer ride or visit. | Initially, it might be difficult for aggregators to get customers in the face of high market competition. Because let’s face it, today, there are hundreds of cab service companies out there! |
Some of the top features offered by almost every taxi fare comparison application include –
The best thing about a taxi price comparing app is that a user needs to download only one app and check the fares and services offered by multiple taxi companies in one place.
So, no need to switch between numerous apps to do so. The app is designed to compare all the fares and services offered by different vendors automatically. Users simply need to provide the destination, and they are good to go to the cheapest taxi rates!
As already mentioned, one can compare the services and fare rates of different taxi companies or aggregators without having to toggle between multiple apps. And to do so, you can integrate multiple taxi service providers under one roof, thus enabling users to make the best decision.
Besides, having the ability to merge various providers will help to expand and grow your business. Partnering with multiple aggregators even boosts your user base and lets you make more money through cab booking charges.
Additionally, the APIs of taxi comparison apps are designed to retrieve essential information regarding rates and services from the databases of different taxi providers databases.
Hence, the customers are able to see a comparison of each of them to choose the cheapest or the best value-for-money service.
Through the geolocation feature, customers can track which cab is available nearest to their location at a given time, thus hastening the cab booking process. Besides, location tracking is a must-have feature for all cab service apps as it enables passengers to track their current locations.
As we all know, proximity sensors like GPS, which is a global navigation satellite system, allow people to track which location they are in using just their smartphones. For Android users, there is Google Maps, and for iOS users, there is Apple Maps.
Using a taxi comparison app, users can quickly get an estimation of the total fare they need to pay for travel from destination A to destination B.
Do you know that your customers can actually book the best cab service right from a taxi service comparison app? Yes, a majority of them have the option of booking your taxi service after one has made the comparison. Moreover, users will also receive the taxi driver’s details with whom they are going to ride.
Since your users are able to check the rate charts of different services provided by different taxi companies in one place, they don’t need to sign up for different aggregators. One can access all the preferred cab service providers by registering only once on your taxi booking mobile app.
Users can get information about surge pricing associated with all cab service providers. There are times when different cab providers may have different surge pricing modules.
Say, for example, Lyft may have listed a higher fare price compared to Uber. Therefore, one can check the surge prices of different cab companies in real-time and even get instant updates regarding the same.
Don’t worry about whether users will be notified, as a taxi price comparing application will inform them in real-time in every situation. For instance, if a taxi driver is late, users will receive a notification regarding the same, along with information regarding the time by which they can expect him.
The push technology also keeps your customers updated regarding any app offers, discounts, the latest app updates, etc. Because you surely wish to increase your user base while, at the same time, keeping them aware of the available services.
Using this feature, users can track the number of cab aggregators available at a given time, along with the available offers, discounts, and peak taxi booking hours. All this vital information is necessary to streamline your business operations.
Your taxi fare comparison app comprises a lot of data and information related to your business and your users. So, you need a safe and secure place to store them. Your taxi app developer can utilize the services of Amazon data servers and other cloud solutions like Google Cloud storage.
These tools help to store all your business and customer data safely in one central place. Cloud solutions also help you to access all your vital data on the go.
Your users can always give a rating or review on the taxi service they have hired through your cab service comparison app.
Sure, here are some general features found in a Taxi App:
| User Panel | Admin Panel |
|---|---|
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Developing a cab price comparison app is not that easy, and one needs to make a good strategy and plan to get started.
Additionally, one also needs to work under the guidance of a proficient and skillful app-developing team, especially in your arena or industry. Here’s a list of all the team members that work collaboratively while building the best-in-class taxi price comparison mobile app.
A project manager must be someone who has immense knowledge and experience in your particular industry. Also, s/he should be able to figure out the best solutions for a particular issue and also must possess good decision-making powers.
The project manager also discusses any issues identified based on predictive analysis. Therefore, s/he is responsible for settling all disputes and mitigating any risks that may arise during the app development and management process.
In short, hire a project manager that offers the right solutions in tandem with your business insights.
Now that you have selected your project manager, it’s time to hire the right app developer. Identify the best-developing team that has the experience of working with both iOS and Android platforms when it comes to front-end and backend API development tasks.
While the developers will help you build an efficiently operating app, designers will look into the design and aesthetic aspects of your software. Because you need to have a well-designed app, especially if you are looking forward to serving a larger customer base.
Hence, you must hire professional UI/UX designers who will work on setting the right colors, themes, and backgrounds, and arrange all other elements in a balanced and aesthetical manner.
Most taxi app development teams fail to realize the worth of a requirement analyst. An RA department analyzes the market trends, customer behaviors, buying patterns, and most importantly, its unique requirements and preferences.
Without knowing what your customers are looking for, you cannot even make proper planning and app-developing strategies. Because all your planning sessions and decision-making processes may be centered around what your customers really want and how you can increase engagement among them.
RAs can also help project managers to make better decisions and provide more effective solutions. The main job of a requirement analyst is to find out the common problems your potential customers are facing, and what you can do to solve them.
A good app development team includes a QA tester who is responsible for fixing all the bugs and issues to make the app perform seamlessly.
Every app development team must also include professional sales and marketing professionals to actually get your app out there! Because without proper branding and marketing, you cannot expect to increase your customer base.
A popular use of a taxi fare comparison app can be when customers are in a hurry to travel to a certain destination, such as at work. People hate to toggle numerous applications in emergency situations to check the best fares.
A cab fare comparing solution is the perfect choice to guide users in such situations, as it not only compares rates but also offers additional services like location tracking, checking the driver’s arrival time, getting real-time updates, etc.
Additionally, one can use a taxi fare comparison app to book a cab for friends or family, without the need for any registration. One can also calculate the fare for a particular trip and track the total amount required to pay the driver.
The best feature of a cab price comparison solution is its facility to let users choose their desired car models and services. For example, if you wish to travel alone, a small car will suffice. But if you want to travel with a family of 4, you will need a large car, such as a Sedan.
What’s more, you can even choose a bike in case you wish to travel faster and at lower rates. Not all cab service providers will be providing this feature if users book services from those individual apps.
Further, a cab comparison app enables users to schedule future rides efficiently by setting their desired time and location. This feature is not available in most cab booking applications. By scheduling one’s trips beforehand, an individual can save time and even money in the long run.
If a user is looking for a complete app to instantly book the best cab services at the cheapest rates in his/her location, a taxi fare comparison app would be a perfect choice.
Read Also: 10 Best Ridesharing and Carpooling Apps
Some of the top revenue sources for companies planning to develop a cab price comparison app include –
You can charge your users various subscription fees for using your cab fare comparison app and its services. The subscription pricing model may be weekly, monthly, or yearly.
You can allow different brands to give advertisements and promotional content on your app to increase your revenue. You can charge these companies based on the space and time taken to promote their products and services on your app.
As the name suggests, this revenue source involves charging your customers who are booking cab services using your taxi fare comparison app. The charging cost may vary depending upon various cab service providers and the country you are operating in.
The process of developing a taxi fare comparison app may seem overwhelming or difficult at first. It’s mostly because you need to build a robust database and a strong API that can efficiently pull the necessary data (that is, the rates offered for different cab services) from the databases of various taxi service providers.
However, using the right tools and solutions, you can develop a successful app, and hence, grow your business effectively. Also, you need to be aware of the costs associated with building a taxi fare comparison mobile app.
For instance, you need to decide the kind of payment modules you would prefer for developing your app. Research shows that most people opt for a payment module that’s charged on an hourly basis.
However, the hourly rates for developing an app may differ from place to place. It also depends upon the experience or knowledge level of your app developing team. In India, for example, the approximate cost of developing an on-demand app is between $30 and $40 per hour.
The entire service may include UI/UX, back-end, testing, etc. And if you want to build a smaller app in and around the North American nations, the cost may be around $40 to $250 per hour, depending upon the services provided.
Apart from the number of hours invested, there are other factors that affect the cost of developing a taxi fare comparison app, including –
The cost of building a fare comparison mobile app for taxi rides certainly goes up with the addition of more features and technologies. The overall cost of developing an app having reasonable features may be around $10,000 to $30,000 for a single platform.
However, if you wish to develop a more advanced application with intelligent tools and cool features, or if you wish to develop software for both Android and iOS platforms, the total cost can go up to around $45,000.
The taxi fare comparison app development cost can also depend on whether you are hiring an entire in-house development team or outsourcing app development tasks. Both come with their individual advantages and disadvantages.
Do your homework to look around for the best options and what facilities or services you will be receiving. The best thing would be to compare various development teams and request a quote from each.
Read Also: How Much Does It Cost to Develop an App Like Careem & Uber?
With the help of a taxi fare comparison app, businesses can tap the market that emerges out of the users who are increasingly finding the need to make a choice between ever-growing options for taxi services.
This blog must have helped you with understanding the critical aspects of building a taxi fare comparison app and leveraging maximum benefits from it.
Jeeto11
The app quickly earned over 1,000 downloads within two months of launch, and users have responded positively. ARKA Softwares boasted experienced resources who were happy to share their knowledge with the internal team.
Archithrones
While the development is ongoing, the client is pleased with the work thus far, which has met expectations. ARKA Softwares puts the needs of the client first, remaining open to feedback on their work. Their team is adaptable, responsive, and hard-working.
Service Provider
I started my project with Arka Softwares because it is a reputed company. And when I started working with them for my project, I found out that they have everything essential for my work. The app is still under development and but quite confident and it will turn out to be the best.
