Uber opened the floodgates of much-dead taxi industry with mobile taxi app. With drastic shift in consumer need that values convenience, taxi app development is the perfect solution to avail smartphone users with a comprehensive cab booking app. It almost feels as if users have access to taxis within the realms of their fingertips.
Mobile app development companies are playing a vital role in catering to this ever evolving technology needs of new-age smartphone users. Taxi app development is one such area of specialization that involves drivers and passengers, engaging on the interactive platform of taxi app for their needs.
Passengers request the ride and drivers accept the ride. But there is more to using this taxi app than just said in plain text. It involves complex procedures and various other features that go a long way with the interface. A comprehensive study to understand the functioning of taxi booking app can give a lot more clarity to the entire taxi app development.
Taxi booking app for passengers
Passengers need to register their account with the app provider to get this going. Once done, passengers can access the available taxis nearby their areas. The nearest one in the vicinity will be called once the request is generated. Passengers in the meantime can check traffic details, track driver’s way, and get the information about estimated arrival time.
Search a cab
Upon opening taxi booking application, users are exposed to availability cabs from the nearby area. As soon as the application is opened, the GPS gets activated to track user’s current location.
At the core of taxi app development lies the idea of providing a distinctive UI that manages to simplify user’s tasks.
Book a ride
Passenger generates the request to avail the taxi service from an online taxi app. Once the user opens an app, they are shown some taxis around.
Them within the map itself. Once found, users can simply tap on the tab ‘book a ride’.
This action prompts nearest cab driver with a ride notification. Upon acceptance, the users are notified of taxi location and expected arrival time.
Ride arrival notification
Once the driver accepts booking, users are informed about their ride and are supposed to anticipate the same. Also, once the cab reaches the pickup point, users are again notified about the arrival of their car. It is to alert the user that cab is ready, and the driver is waiting for the passenger itself.
Review and rate ride
Upon ride completion users are expected to rate ride and driver as a token of their feedback. This may state if there is need for improvement in car, driver’s behavior, driver’s knowledge of roads and city, or anything that a passenger interacts with. These ratings in turn help other prospective passengers to know more about.
There are numerous factors that comprise an entire mobile taxi app. Both the entities involved in service are required to abide by the norms laid down my taxi app owner.
Drivers who are willing to participate needs to provide a basic car information to which the company checks if the standard norms are followed. Taxi Drivers who are enrolled to post a ride, or carry passengers under the company’s brand name have following operations to perform.
Taxi booking app for drivers
Drivers have a distinctive UI that is directly linked with the admin dashboard where their each and every activity can be traced by the admins. Once the driver applies to get registered with the company to drive a cab under that brand name, they ought to follow the norms.
Getting started
Drivers are registered, contracted, and selected to dedicatedly drive his/her car as a taxi on revenue sharing base. The arrangement is such that driver earns a part of every ride he/she gets and splits the revenue as per the company’s norms.
Once registered, driver can simply roll on to pick up passengers from the nearby vicinity to get things started.
Driver dashboard
Drivers are given unique account through which they can tap rides, earnings, and profits. A typical driver’s dashboard comprises of details regarding total rides undertaken, money earned, along with the distance traveled within the taxi booking app itself.
Ratings are also pretty important and therefore, the dashboard also reflects average ratings from all the rides.
Receiving payment
Drivers are entitled to receive payment upon ride completion. This payment comes either in form of cash, in-app e-wallet payment from taxi app users, or by internet banking which involves debit and credit card payment, net banking, or other e-wallets.
Essential elements of taxi booking app
Location sharing
A dedicated device for driver that runs taxi booking mobile application comes along with a GPS-enabled maps, enabling them to share location. This location can be traced by app users to get the perfect location of taxi. Even while the ride is on, it is possible to track down taxi’s location as drivers are supposed to keep the device running all the time inside a cab.,
The taxi app functions on Google Map APIs for location sharing, enabling drivers and passengers to discover each other’s location. Considering the fact that a transaction begins with this, the in-app map must be loaded to allow both the entities involved participate in a highly interactive manner.
Read More: Your customer’s location is more important than you think
Ride information
Ride information will show details to passengers about driver, car model, car number, along with driver’s ratings. This way passengers are able to know more about car and driver.
The same information can be shared over social media to inform friends and family about the journey.
Chat option
Chat option is enabled as soon as the prospective passenger pushes down a ride request to the driver. Once pushed, the passengers are enabled to chat with the drivers in case of locating the precise address or trigger any additional inquiry.
This chat function between driver and passenger can be also used a personal pickup notification from driver’s end. While passenger can inform driver in advance about the drop-off location to get things going.
Read More: Integrate chatbots to improve your customer experience
Payment options
Payment activity is undertaken once the trip is completed. Passenger holds the right to mark a ride ‘complete’ upon reaching the destination. Once the ride is completed, passengers are availed with multiple payment options to choose from.
- Cash
- Online Banking
- E-Wallet
When payments are made using e-wallet, the virtual in-app money is used and therefore, a set of protocol needs to be followed. There are two methods for which a referral code is generated; one, where referral codes are perfected in the application that are stored at the time of account registration and other, where referral codes are generated using branch.io