How to build a taxi app like Grab? (Complete guide for entrepreneurs)

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After the inception of taxi booking apps like Uber, Lyft, and Grab, many people may feel that they rely mostly on the apps instead of hiring a driver who they have known for years. This is because of the convenience of quick pickup and professional taxi service without paying enormous amounts. The ride-hailing service stunted the growth of the traditional taxi business and earned massive revenue within a short period. Some experts say that the fast growth and success of these taxi apps are directly proportional to a decrease in traditional taxi usage.

When you look at Uber, it gained more than 40 million customers per month in the year 2017 and created a new benchmark in the US market. But when you analyze the Asian market, Grab is sharing the same statistics as Uber. From this, you can undoubtedly anticipate that Grab will soon compete with Uber-like apps in the taxi industry. Besides, Grab is recognized as a reliable taxi app partner in Asia and is widely known as GrabTaxi in the region. In October 2017, it announced its 1-billion milestone strike in its official website.

As we know, Grab is a Singapore-based ride-sharing app; it is an inspiration for entrepreneurs who are planning to start a taxi app business in a particular region. Though it operates at a specific place, the revenue it creates is tremendous. Recently, Crunchbase revealed a report on Grab raising funds from a Series H round to double down on the motorbike on-demand service sector.

So, what makes an app like Grab stand out in the crowd?

As an entrepreneur as well as a customer, you would have come across popular apps like Uber, Lyft, and have also estimated the best among them. But, there are attributes that an app like GrabTaxi incorporates which make it stand out from the crowd and this can be a benefit for you if you choose their business model to integrate into yours.

Most renowned taxi apps offer multiple services to its customers and also allows them to choose based on their budget and requirement. Offering such solutions in your new app can increase its usability and standard among the customers.

Adopting the Grab model can be beneficial since it possesses features that no other app has included yet. For those who haven’t come across the newly integrated features, the below explained will provide the essential. You can glance over it and can plan accordingly during the development.

1.Better 365 – A new driver’s experience feature

To improve the driver’s experience, you can integrate this feature called “Better 365” in your taxi app. This feature helps the driver seek better support, learn tips to earn more, use tools efficiently, and participate in the strong community.

This feature is exclusively designed for driver partners and you cannot find this on any other taxi application.

2. Pricing

When you compare the pricing levels of different taxi applications, an app like GrabCar charges less than its competitors. As an entrepreneur, to make people notice your service, you can cut down the cost of your service because people have that propensity to switch to services where the prices are low.

 3. In-app earning trackers and training videos

Ensuring safety for customers and also rewarding driver experience by providing videos and quizzes will be quite helpful to create strong employee engagement. So make sure to implement this feature.

4. An advanced taxi booking system

This advanced taxi booking system allows the user to book a taxi seven days in advance. The booking steps will be the same, and as an add-on, riders can provide details of the ride.

Main features of Taxi App

Apart from the features mentioned above, there are features which attracted numerous customers to use popular taxi apps. And, those who are planning to develop a taxi app can make sure to integrate these features into their new application.

Usually, the taxi app comes with a standard structure mentioned below,

  • Passengers app – For booking and tracking rides
  • Drivers app – For executing the booking orders
  • Administrator panel – For controlling web-panel to manage operations

Thus all these apps come with basic features that you must keep a note of. Both drivers and passengers app look similar, but the administrator panel is quite different.

Basic features:

Registration/ Login

Can register using social media profiles like Facebook or can simply log in through email.

Booking option

Can enter their pickup and destination areas, and can also choose a taxi driver.

GPS tracking

With GPS tracker, the app users can track the driver’s location in real-time.

Fare estimation

Users can view their estimated price before they take up the ride.

Payment option

Allow to pay through both card and cash method.

Push notification

Notify about new offers, deals, and free trips through push notifications.

Feedback/review

Based on the ride and driver’s proficiency, users can give feedback.

Booking history

Details about rides and places will be stored for future references.

Admin panel:

An admin panel is a tool where you can manage and control all the operations. Using the admin panel, you can see the performance of each driver along with the statistics of their earnings, details of customers, and their complaints. Admins will have access to add or delete (suspend/terminate) drivers from the service based on the feedback received.

Furthermore, there are other few things that you must focus on while developing a Grab clone. They are explained as follows,

Choosing the right platform to establish: Android/ iOS

Between the two platforms, you must choose the one which is widely used by your end-customers. For customer taxi app, it will be better if you launch on both platforms. Also, make sure to have an intuitive interface for efficient success. That is if the Grab clone taxi app is designed for iPad the interface should be versatile and change resolutions accordingly when viewed in other devices.

Analytics

To know the app’s performance, to get objective feedback, and to plan campaigns, it will be useful if you utilize the Google Analytics tool.

The cost to develop a taxi app like Grab

It is impossible to reveal the exact cost of the mobile app development at fixed prices since it depends on various factors like complexity, speed, and amount of the work.

Companies fix prices based on the design, back-end development, quality, platforms chosen. And apart from these, the hourly rate of specialists matters the most. To develop an Android application it will take around 850-900hrs, for iOS it will be around 700hrs. This estimated time may differ based on companies and the cost will be fixed accordingly. But when you choose a clone app, the price will differ and may cut down to half of the sum.

Wrapping up

Creating an app for your business is no longer a tiring task as you can utilize the help of mobile app developers. The only thing that you have to do is to find the right partner at your budget. To start a business like Grab, choosing a clone app can be beneficiary. To know more about the Grab clone app development and its functionalities, reach us today.

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