A Guide to Taxi Booking App Development: From Novices to Navigators

The Basic Features

You can build a custom taxi booking app with a solid foundation of the following features:

For Passengers

• User Registration/Login: Allow users to sign up or log in through their emails, phone numbers, or social media accounts. This process is often made easy and fast to encourage user adoption.
• Ride Booking: This is a core function that enables on-demand users to connect with the nearest drivers through your platform. Passengers will be required to enter their pick-up and drop-off locations, select the vehicle type (e.g., standard car, luxury car, SUV), and add special requests or notes for drivers.
• Live GPS Location Tracking: Passengers can keep track of their rides in real time based on the most convenient route from pickup to the dropoff point. GPS integration enables calculating trip fares based on distance and time traveled.
• Payment Gateways: Provide multiple payment options for users to choose from, like credit/debit cards, digital wallets, or cash. This feature also allows for automatic payments at the beginning or the end of each trip.
• Rating & Review System: Customers can share feedback about their trips or rate the quality of service, vehicle condition, drivers’ behavior, or else through the rating and review feature. It benefits passengers by holding drivers accountable for valuable insights for future improvements.
• Push Notifications: Keep users posted about their trip details, ride status updates, promotions, and other useful info.
• Help & Support: This is where passengers can reach out when they need assistance during or after the trip. Passengers can message or call the support agents.

For Drivers

• Driver Registration/Login: Similar to the user registration process, drivers need to register and log in to activate their profiles, which require personal information and details, such as driver’s license, vehicle information, background checks, etc.
• Accept/Reject Ride Requests: When connected with nearby customers, drivers have the option to take or decline ride requests based on relevant details (I.e., pickup location, destination, availability, etc.)
• Navigation System: This in-app feature helps drivers navigate to their pick-up and drop-off locations using the most efficient route.
• Earnings Dashboard: Drivers can access reports and keep track of their daily, weekly, or monthly earnings. The dashboard also provides trip details like booking history, tips, bonuses, etc.
• Help & Support: Offer drivers easy access to supporters from the taxi service provider in case of any issues or inquiries.

For Admins

• Dashboard/Admin Panel: It serves central control that enables admins to overview and monitor real-time activities, and access and analyze data from both the driver-side and customer-side of a taxi booking platform, as well as manage the app performance overall.
• Driver Management & User Management: These are two features with the same functions yet different targets. In driver management, admins should be able to approve, add, remove, disqualify, or even suspend drivers from the platform when needed. The action is taken based on their performance data (Such as ratings, reviews, and ride histories) recorded in the app. User management does likewise, but for passengers.
• Trip/Ride Management: Through the provided user interface, admins can access insights into trip requests, cancellations, refunds, etc., so that they can track the status of each ride (Ongoing, completed, and canceled). In emergencies, admins can also take over a driver’s account to resolve issues or disputes arising from a particular ride.
• Fare & Payment Management: In this feature set, administrators manage and secure payment gateways, fare calculations, discounts/coupon code management, and other related data. Also, they can set the revenue model and adjust fare rates based on vehicle type, time of day, demand (surge pricing), and special promotions or discounts.
• Geofencing & Zone Management: Admins can create geofenced areas for specific operational purposes, like defining zones with different pricing or restricting service to certain areas.

The Advanced Features

A more complex app always requires additional features that are otherwise available in a basic one. The possibilities of technology are endless, so taxi app developers can play with their creativity to make their apps stand out.

Multi-language Compatibility

If targeting an international audience, it is a must to build a taxi app that supports multiple languages. Non-native travelers can switch the app language to the one that is convenient for them.

In-app Wallet Integration

Modern taxi businesses today can include an in-app wallet system. With this feature, users can add money to their wallets and pay for their rides without the hassle of handling cash or inputting credit card information every time.

Voice Command Integration

Introducing a voice command feature that enables passengers and drivers to interact with the taxi booking app using natural language processing (NLP) technology will bring an easier and more convenient user experience. For instance, users ask the app to book a ride by speaking the order out loud instead of typing.

Carpooling/Ride-sharing

Passengers heading in the same way can share a ride and split the fare with this feature. Drivers can pick these customers up in a sequence that does not affect the dropoff point of other passengers. Group-ride approaches like this help passengers reduce costs and waiting time for all tagalongs. From an environmental perspective, carpooling can reduce traffic congestion and carbon emissions.

Market Research & Planning

Like any type of software, a taxi booking app project begins with the fundamental step of brainstorming, researching, and planning in order to create a functional app from scratch for an already existing taxi business or a newfound one.

In this phase, mobile app developers need to go through a few sub-steps to extract accurate insights for their future solution and define their value proposition:

• Market Analysis: It is requisite to examine the latest trends in the current market, understand the competition (in which there are too many taxi booking software and apps), and identify the potential niches that your mobile app could fill.
• Target Audience Identification: Defining the primary users of your taxi booking app is the next important mission to accomplish. Who are they? What are their needs, preferences, and pain points? The user range could be wide or narrow based on your app’s capabilities and fulfillment, spanning from daily commuters and tourists to corporate clients.
• Business Model Definition: Choose a business model that guides how your taxi application will generate revenue. Examples: Commission-based subscriptions and in-app advertisements.
• Feasibility Study: The last but not least step in this phase is to assess the technical and financial feasibility of your app idea. This is when factors like initial investment, ongoing costs, and potential return on investment are taken into account for possibility.

At the end of this phase, you should have a detailed business plan, including the app’s target audience, features, platform and device support, monetization strategy, etc.

UI/UX Designing

The following phase is UI/UX design, which is essential for building an intuitive and engaging user interface and experience for your mobile app.

• Wireframing: Sketch out the basic structure of your mobile app screens and flow between them to visualize the user journey.
• Prototyping: Next, build a clickable prototype of your taxi app that simulates the user interface and interactions. This step is crucial for gathering early feedback and making necessary adjustments.
• Design Implementation: Finalize the visual design of your application, including color schemes, fonts, icons, and other graphical elements aligning with your brand identity and appeal to your target audience.

App Coding & Testing

This is the point when developers start coding for both frontend (client-side) and backend (server-side) components based on the approved design and functionalities. The objective is to build a functional taxi booking app that works and is free from bugs, glitches, and errors.

• Frontend Development: This stage involves implementing the UI design into code to create taxi app parts that users interact with. Technologies often used included Swift or Objective-C for iOS apps and Kotlin or Java for Android apps.
• Backend Development: Set up servers, databases, and APIs that handle the app’s operations, such as user registration, ride booking, and payment processing.
• Testing: A rigorous testing process is run to identify bugs, glitches, and errors that could impact the overall performance of the app before launch.

App Launch & Maintenance

Once your taxi app passes the testing round, it is time for its debut on the market.

• App Submission: Developers submit their products to the respective app stores (I.e., Apple App Store or Google Play Store) for approval.
• Marketing: The development team will work with an in-house marketing team or external agencies to promote their taxi booking app through campaigns and ads. These activities are necessary to save your app from being drowned in an ocean of available competitors.
• Ongoing Support & Maintenance: Keep track of user feedback and continually optimize the application over time based on that input. It also includes addressing technical issues, updating features, and fixing bugs as needed.