In the past, there was a time when you needed to contact an organization that provided transportation to move from one place to another using a taxi and has to wait for hours to get a price. If you were required to travel urgently basis, you had to hurry on the road and check if there was an available cab. In both instances waiting times were usually unpredictable, and the price was high.
The scenario changed after the launch of the apps Uber and Lyft in the early part of 2010. The two companies transformed the industry of transportation upside down. Nowadays, if you wish to book a taxicab it is not necessary to make phone calls or wait around for hours because the request for the ride may be completed right from your phone.
It was a disruption to the industry and it’s a huge one.
Since the advent of Uber and its On-Demand Economy, we witnessed on-demand services like the demand economy growing and there’s an Uber-like app for everything we could think of. With time, other transportation apps that resembled Uber started appearing in the market. And you know what? They also achieved the heights of their success when they competed with the ride-sharing giant Uber.
It illustrates how vast this industry is and also the extent of ride-sharing business all over the world. A lot of players came into the market following Uber and came up with different USPs or business models. They targeted a particular market by implementing customized features for specific clients and had great success.
If you’re an aspiring entrepreneur or the owner of a taxi company planning to invest in the development of mobile apps this guide is ideal for you. If you want to compete against the big players in the ride-sharing industry, you must study their experiences and develop a plan to get ready for competitors. In this blog, you’ll be able to know the most valuable lessons learned from top executives in the industry of ride-sharing. These lessons can help you create your own company.
Apptunix has developed hundreds of Uber-like applications and solutions for taxi firms across the world, Apptunix can assist you in getting your taxi app concept off the starting point. But first, you have to study the subject to be prepared for the race. Therefore, continue reading.
Best Lessons You Need to Learn from the Top Taxi and Ridesharing Apps in 2023
Let’s take a look at the fascinating lessons the top startups and taxi services learned from all over the world:
- Uber
Uber is so popular across the entire world that it has come to be synonymous with the concept of the on-demand economy. Uberization is a term that has been widely that is used by numerous major companies and publications to refer to the model of on-demand. What exactly is Uber operate? In addition, what lessons it has been able to teach the world? Many!
It’s a ride-sharing app that serves more than 110 million users around the world. The company doesn’t have one taxi, but it’s the most well-known taxi app because of its robust revenue and business model.
Here’s what you can learn from Uber’s story of success:
The best concepts are the simplest: To build an effective company, you don’t require a degree or knowledge of the complexities of rocket science. Simply identify the issues people are confronted with in their daily lives and create solutions that address them effortlessly. With the advantage of being the first to move, Uber gained traction by solving one of the most significant issues of the day and it did not look back.
Beginning from a specific point and moving to all the locations: Uber was first established as a luxury automobile service that let people move in fashion. At the time the demand for limousines and other luxury automobiles within the US market was at its highest and Uber took advantage of this demand. Uber gathered information about the attitudes of the population it served and set out to create an operation.
After a few years, the company widened its product line with the launch of UberX which is a cheaper hybrid vehicle and an alternative to the expensive black cars. The key lesson here is to understand the market demand and serve specific segments first. When a specific segment of your people who are interested in your product becomes avid followers of your company, you will be able to extend your services to the entire world.
There are many other lessons you can learn from a company such as Uber the most popular taxi app on the planet. Since it’s not possible to go through all these points, you should go through the only Uber guide to learn the lessons you can take from Uber’s success.
- Lyft
Following Uber, Lyft is the second-largest ride-sharing app on the marketplace, with over one-third of US shares of the market. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, Lyft is an application that is available only in both the USA and Canada but it’s prominent throughout the globe.
The reason? Lyft is a truly distinctive selling aspect. While Uber is known for the tagline “Your Personal Driver,” customers refer to Lyft by the name of “Your Friend With a Car.” The commercial model is built around peer-to-peer ride-hailing services.
Here are the lessons you should take away from the success of Lyft:
Give equal weight to all of your stakeholders: While Uber follows an approach to business that is driven by the rider, Lyft is known for being a firm believer in the equality of all its stakeholders. It adheres to a driver-centric model through the inclusion of tipping in the final price. The most important thing to remember is to ensure an equilibrium between the riders and drivers when creating an app for taxis. If your customers have the power to arrive a couple of minutes later and the driver is a bit late, make it easier by providing them with options like heat maps.
Aims at building communities: Lyft always focused on creating a strong community. It strives to create an employee-focused culture that promotes human-to-human connection and gives an enjoyable experience. The app aims to focus on creating a positive environment between the drivers and the riders. The name “Your Friend With a Car” could seem to be normal. But, there’s an underlying strategy to this method.
It assists in creating connections between passengers and drivers. Before the epidemic was discovered, it was common to allow Lyft passengers to be in front of the car and drivers from Lyft are recognized for their frequent chats with passengers that Uber drivers. In the end, the app appears to enjoy a loyal user base. Some even believe that the market share of Lyft will increase in the future over Uber’s US market.
- Bolt or Taxify
In the year 1921, a teenager from Estonia, Bolt is another application worth studying to be successful in the taxi business online. After nine years of introduction, Bolt has become accessible in more than 35 countries and has an $11 billion business.
Bolt’s founder and CEO Bolt stated in one of the interviews for Techcrunch that his app came onto the market to address the problems of bad service and expensive costs. The company believes that the issues were caused by the dominance of taxi app companies in the market.
Here’s what you can learn from Bolt’s story of success:
Choose your market carefully: Bolt’s CEO believes that any business start-up should begin by identifying the best market. He spoke to an interviewer and mentioned that when he started Bolt in the early 1990s, many investors and businesses were overlooking markets such as Africa as well as Central Europe due to their smaller size. But, as the years passed by of time and the rapid the growth of smartphones, the markets grew quickly.
This means that the growth potential of the market must always be a priority before the size of the market. He also states that he’s happy they seized on opportunities that were not considered by tech giants such as Uber.
Price is the most important factor: No matter how great your products or services are, when they’re priced poorly it won’t matter what you do. Bolt costs about half what competitors charge for an hour of the ride. Bolt drivers also make more money than other drivers on apps since the app charges less commission.
Meet local requirements: A taxi business cannot win without winning your local marketplace. Bolt’s CEO stated that when they started the service in African marketplaces, Uber was already there but they only accepted just credit card payments. It was absurd considering that more than 90 percent of Africans did not have credit cards at the time. Bolt localized its product and was able to beat Uber within the regional market. This is how the app gained popularity across the world.
- Careem
The path to success at Careem was not an easy one. It began as an unassuming phone center located in Dubai in 2012 before being purchased by Uber in the year 2019 in exchange for $3.1 Billion. The company’s enormous success was a model for young entrepreneurs across the Middle East. Middle East as everybody learned important lessons from its rapid growth.
As a top transportation business with a strong presence in Dubai, Careem now operates in over 100 cities across 10 countries across the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa.
Here’s what you can learn from the story of success that Careem has had:
Localization of products is the most important thing: Careem is an application that provides services like Uber however it was designed specifically for the Middle East market. Because the people of this region are not as tech-savvy as those who reside in USA or UK The company embraced all means to assist those in need and offered the tools they required to use the services offered by Careem.
When the app was created, they set up an entire calenture that could help users solve their problems and help users to reserve a taxi. When the company grew up, it moved its call center out of Dubai to areas with lower costs, such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
Additionally, the company was aware that they were after an Islamic region, and that some people are not averse to credit cards in the region because interest isn’t acceptable in Islam. Therefore, they began taking cash payments from riders, and their bookings grew rapidly right when the app launched.
Do not duplicate other applications: While Careem was inspired by the concept of Uber but they didn’t create the Uber Clone and that’s the reason it has been a huge success. Google Maps for Middle East Middle East were not as accurate as those in the USA in the early days because of the frequent construction taking place.
Therefore, they developed their own database of locations in order to let users choose the drop or pickup location from a dropdown, and it is easy for drivers to finish the journey. This is only one example of the way Careem isn’t an imitation of Uber and is a company with its USP.
- GoJek
It is available in five countries. GoJek provides a ride-sharing service that offers a variety of options for customers. From connecting passengers with drivers to providing food delivery, and helping users move heavy objects and heavy objects – the app does everything to make users’ lives easier and its employees’ lives more profitable.
Here’s what you can learn from GoJek’s successful story:
Take a local approach when you invest in expansion Gojek is an Indonesian firm and is deeply rooted in its market. While it’s great to grow locally, however, the company is aware that international expansion requires something more. Therefore, it meticulously designed the expansion and has been up to date.
To launch its new business for its new business in Thailand and Vietnam The organization renounced the choice of using the parent company’s name on local teams. They picked the names Get to be used in Thailand as well as Go-Viet for Vietnam. GoJek allowed their local team to develop the business model according to local requirements and made sure that they would always receive mentorship only a GoJek-like leader can offer.
Allow your driver to be flexible and have the freedom to earn more money: Everyone wants flexibility when they work and if that means greater earnings, it’s a win-win. So, to be successful in any industry it is essential to ensure that your employees are content. GoJek is platform entrepreneurs and individuals can utilize to meet new clients, learn new skills, and grow profits.
The platform doesn’t restrict drivers from simply moving people from one location to another. They can serve food during lunchtime. If there are fewer requests, they can drop off parcels. So, drivers can choose from several ways to earn money and boost profits.
Wrapping Up
The world is awash with innovative startups that tackle problems in the real world. When it comes to taxi app development, they are the top choice of entrepreneurs across the globe due to the many opportunities for monetization that it offers. If you’re also keen to know how to create an app for taxis or other transportation applications for your company begin by speaking with taxi app developers at Apptunix.
