Taxi-hailing apps and firms are all the rage these days. Taxi rides have become economical and customizable (like taxis which can accommodate wheelchairs). Taxi firms also offer a wide array of payment options to their customers. All these facilities have made taxi-hailing apps very popular among the working class and the rich people in the world.
The taxi-hailing business is a very lucrative business these days. It is immensely profitable for anyone who starts it. The exploding population of the world, its booming middle-class, the world’s corporate boom, and the world’s congested cities have given a shot in the arm for taxi-hailing businesses around the world. Use this image for a taxi-hailing app.
Hence, you might be thinking of starting your own taxi-hailing firm. If so, you must definitely develop your own Taxi Booking software. If you’re planning to develop your own taxi-hailing app, you’ll definitely be concerned about the cost involved. In this article, we’re going to see how much it costs to develop your own taxi-hailing app.
What are the factors that influence the cost of developing a taxi-hailing app?
There are quite a few factors that influence the cost of your taxi-hailing application. They are:
- The agency that develops your app. National and international app development agencies demand a lot more money for developing taxi-hailing apps than startups in the same sector as they have a record of successfully completed projects.
- The number of developers involved. The more the number of people developing your app, the more the cost involved. Freelancers charge considerably less than professional developers working for an established agency.
- The number of features you want your taxi-hailing app to have. If you want your taxi-hailing app to be rich in features, notifications, developed using the latest technology, and simple to use, you must be ready to pay more to the app developing agency.
- The duration of the project. If you want a very robust and simple to use taxi-hailing app, it will take quite a few months to develop. That will cost you more than developing a simple taxi-hailing app that takes only a month to develop.
- The OS for which it is developed. Generally speaking, developing an app for Android OS costs far less than developing an app for iOS OS. If you want to reach out to a large customer base, then developing a taxi-hailing app for Android OS will be better. If you only want to reach out only to UMCs and rich people, then developing a taxi-hailing app for iOS OS will be better.
What features does your taxi-hailing app need to have?
A good tax-hailing app also known as an Uber Clone app will have 3 versions of it. One for the passengers, one for the drivers, and one for the company admins. The passenger version of the taxi-hailing app needs to have the following features to be considered competent:
- User profile: Every person should be able to create his or her profile in the passenger version of your taxi-hailing app. The profile will contain a customer’s personal details like his or her name, address, mobile number, email, emergency contact number, etcetera.
- OTP verification: If this feature is not there then anyone will be able to take the ride that your customer has booked. Since the OTP is only sent to your customer’s mobile, it’s a foolproof way to ensure that only your customer takes the ride.
- ETA notifications: When a customer books a ride, he or she would definitely like to know how long the cab will take to arrive. If they are in a hurry and the ETA is too long, they can cancel their rides and look for other options. If the ETA for arrival is not shown in the app and the cab takes too long to arrive, the customer will feel cheated.
- Ease of use: You cab-hailing app should be designed in such a way that even a child should be able to operate it. It should be robust yet simple to use. Only then, you can reach out to a large customer base.
- Scheduling future rides: At any given point of time, the availability of cabs cannot be guaranteed. Hence, customers should be given the facility to book their cabs in advance in case they have a business meeting or other important events to attend on a particular day.
- Fare Estimation: Money is what all the people are concerned about these days. If the fare for a ride is shown in advance, customers can decide whether they want to take that ride or not. This way, a war of words will not happen between chauffeurs and customers later on.
- Notifications: Your app should have in-app notifications that ask the customers to rate their ride, that notify them when the driver has arrived, the notify them when a ride has been completed, that notify them when a driver has canceled their ride, etcetera. This keeps your customers informed and keeps them free of ambiguity.
- Emergency button: This world is not perfect. There are drivers who misbehave with their passengers and there are drivers who drive rashly. In case passengers face any emergencies during their rides, there should be an SOS button that passengers can select.
- Referral options: This is not compulsory but you would want it if you want to make your company popular. Discounts on rides should be given to people who refer other people to your company. Only then will they be motivated to promote your cab company.
- Ability to cancel a ride: Your app should have an option to cancel a booked ride. There can be many reasons customers may want to cancel their booked rides and you should give them that freedom. A notification should be sent to customers and drivers if customers cancel their rides. This avoids ambiguity and misunderstandings.
- The option to contact the driver: This option enables customers to know where their driver is and to know how long it will take for him to reach their place. This facility/option avoids ambiguity.
- Help and support: In case your customers have any queries or complaints regarding your service, they should be able to contact your customer support for help. This deepens your relationship with your customers and enhances the popularity and approval of your company.
Conclusion
The average cost of developing a taxi-hailing app is US $4,000 according to some studies but this can go up to US $6,000 depending on your requirements, the mobile OS for which the app is being developed, and the agency that is developing the app for you.
Only start your own cab-hailing company if there is a demand for your services. Becoming an entrepreneur is not a cheap or financially safe affair. There are high risks of failure or jail tenure in case of loan defaulting involved.