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How to build taxi booking app

Posted By : NINOS IT SOLUTION

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How to build taxi booking app

“Just Book an Uber or Ola”, has become a common phrase. The technological inclusion in transportation brought in such a disruption in the market that gradually it has even impacted various other industries too. One close look at a Taxi booking app and you know the levels of crosslinking that it requires.

If you are setting out to create a Taxi Booking App, keep in mind the competition posed by popular booking apps that have already made its place in the market. What makes your app different? Is it the cost aspect, availability or offers? The unique selling points are of high value for making a mark and attracting customers.

Here are some key tips on building a Taxi Booking app.

Think Native

Integration of Google maps or GPS is must for taxi booking application, as without it the app can’t function. This in turn requires the development of a native app in order to include the inherent features of the mobile device, including the contact updates, location sharing etc. And hence, app specific to Android, iOS or Windows Phone.

The Key Features

The Taxi app requires different dashboards, one for the passenger, one for the driver and one for the admin. Here’s what each side should showcase.

Passenger App Features:

• Pickup location marker on map using the GPS
• Cab Booking facility along with live tracking
• Fare Estimator, discount and payment option
• Contact option to Text or call the driver from the app
• Rating option
• Profile Management
• Link to payment gateways and option to split fares with fellow passengers.

Driver Side Features:

• Driver Profile/dashboard
• Trip details– time, date, location on map, passenger contact details
• List of all cab requests
• Option to Accept or Decline cab requests
• Google navigation
• GPS activation on login
• Waiting time stop-watch, auto calculation of fare
• Reports that show statistics of completed trips and earnings

Secure login, push notifications, in-app messenger and profile editing etc. should be common to both driver and passenger apps.

Admin Panel:

• A dashboard that allows operators to manage registered customers and drivers
• Provision to Register new drivers or vehicles
• Option to manage all registered customers and drivers
• Quick access to summary and trip statistics
• Management system for all finance and logistics

Development

With the interface idea in place and the key features listed comes the prototyping or wireframing. The actual development starts after this. While hiring an in-house team for development can be a good approach, outsourcing the development process can be easier and light on your pockets too.

The final cost of development for a taxi booking app depends on the time taken to integrate key features like geolocation services and routing, payment gateway integration, user profile/registration etc. The platform and design may influence the cost too.

Custom made apps may be costlier, the other options are:

• CMS (Cab Management System) apps, where the software comes with a suit of ready-to-use features.
• White label taxi (WLT) services, where the client can purchase the licence of a server side app that is ready-to-use, and can launch the app with their own brand name.
• Ride services such as Cars on demand (CoD), or ride-hailing or ride sourcing, is a marketplace where consumers and service drivers can directly connect with each other.

All three options are supported by a development team and any issue related to the app can be resolved by sending an issue report to the app selling company

Before the app is launched it must be thoroughly tested and that too from the user, driver and admin perspective. Review the bug reports, fix the issues, test again and repeat the same until it is error free before officially launching the app. For better response and outreach market the app well.

Creating a taxi booking app is a complex and tedious process and so seeking the help of experts in the field can reduce the time, costs and risks too.