Disclaimer-mark
This is a user generated content for MyStory, a YourStory initiative to enable its community to contribute and have their voices heard. The views and writings here reflect that of the author and not of YourStory.
Disclaimer-mystory

Growing demand for ride-hailing & sharing services: How to exploit the strengths & limitations of Uber?

First introduced in 2011, ride-hailing has attracted a massive portion of the total population. The ease and convenience in availing the service have made it the most preferable commuting medium among all. In fact, it is predicted that the ride-hailing market will exceed $285 billion in terms of revenue by 2030. 

Growing demand for ride-hailing & sharing services: How to exploit the strengths & limitations of Uber?

Friday May 18, 2018,

6 min Read

image

The taxi industry has been in the picture for so long and its contribution to the global economy was remarkable indeed. However, the concept of ride-hailing has some visible impact on today’s taxi industry, for it is expected to surpass the conventional taxi market in next 13 years, both in terms of users as well as the turnover. The same is with carpooling as well. Its enormous growth rate has diminished the demand for traditional taxi services. Since the businesses like Uber and Lyft has achieved a massive success in their home-town San Francisco, they are planning to expand their market to other potential cities like London, New York, Tokyo and more.

A weighted analysis of rapid growing ride-hailing and carpooling market

The global ride-hailing market is predicted to generate a total revenue of $285 billion in the next 13 years. At the same time, the taxi market is going to shrink to a quarter of the size of the ride-hailing industry. In fact, a total of 15 million ride-hailing trips is happening each day and this will gigantically increase and will be hitting a 100 Million mark by 2030. However, the traditional taxi market accounts for 108 Billion as for now, which is thrice that of the size of the $36-billion ride-hailing market. Hence, to reach the prophesied mark of achievement, ride-hailing businesses have to invest more in customer development, services, and more innovative strategies to compete with the taxi industry.

Correspondingly, the idea of carpooling/ride-sharing has fascinated a large population, particularly the youngsters. Indeed, the number of global car sharing users has already exceeded 10 Million and is expected to reach 36 Million by 2025. The market share has also shown a remarkable growth in the year of 2018, it generates a revenue of US$17.191 billion this year alone. Moreover, this revenue is predicted to grow at a CAGR of 15.2% in the near future and will be reaching a turnover of US$30.329 billion by 2022.

Outrun the weakness of Uber

Uber is certainly one of the most influential businesses in the world, no doubt in that. In fact, it has managed to succeed in all their ventures as well. It's contribution t the world is never negligible since they provide the solution for today’s transit challenges. Besides, Uber has redefined the taxi industry through innovative yet perfectly logical strategies and approaches. However, to beat Uber in terms of business or to become the most potent competitor for Uber, you need to structure your business in such a way that it will surpass their limitations and deliver the best experience possible.

Work alongside classic taxi services

The invasion of ride-hailing approach has seriously affected the traditional taxi services. In order to survive in today’s transiting market, they have to put up a huge fight. By incorporating classic taxi services into your digital strategy, you are composing a new strategy to counter the biggest competitors in the market. The renowned businesses like Chauffeur Prive, Mytaxi, and Kabbee, who operates in Europe followed the same pattern, whilst Arro succeeded in implementing same in the United States.

Explore other classes of vehicles

Instead of relying only on a certain kind of service, it is always admirable to explore other possibilities. The best example is Uber's innovative approach to introducing two-wheeler taxis in Thailand. However, in South Asia, there is a multitude of businesses like Grab, Go-Jek etc., providing similar services, which makes them the Uber’s main rivals in that particular region. Also by providing a handful of inventive yet convenient services, you can attract more customers as well.

Slashed prices can make a difference

Uber is known for their dynamic pricing, especially during those peak hours. If played with keen calculation and plan, price drops can be very effective. By efficiently managing prices with a clear understanding of budget, one can put up a great competition for the competing parties. Several other taxi-hailing apps such as Gett and Curb followed this approach and have succeeded in competing with the tech giant Uber. In fact, the cost is user’s major criteria of rating a service, it means a lot to your customers.

Focus on delivering world-class service

The successful business is about how they made their customer feel. Offering an irresistible experience to your customer on a consistent basis is recommended for lasting success. Even though Uber is a globally renowned service, it has already encountered bans and several license suspensions as well. In London, back in 2014, around 19 Uber drivers were interrogated for sex crimes. Hence, by implementing a better system for the background check and by ensuring security and safety, you can take your business to another level.

Besides, to target an industry where Uber hasn’t reached yet is a great way to gain the market. Lay your foundation strong and do whatever it takes to sustain. nTAXI, WebTaxi, eCABS, and Dart has chosen cities and conquered them before Uber.

Pre-eminent ready-made taxi booking software to choose from

Building an application similar to Uber or Lyft is possible, but it requires a great deal of money, expertise and time. However, the best alternative for this custom mobile application development process is ready-made software. Those can be employed to easily deploy a complete software, Here we introduce some of such software, which can help you set up a comprehensive ride-hailing application effortlessly.

Taxi Pickr

This taxi booking software is a ready-to-deploy software solution to help businesses set up an Uber-like mobile application from the get-go. It comes with plenty of inbuilt features, which contributes to both end-user as well as admin-side operations.

Unico Taxi

Similar to TaxiPickr, Unico is a taxi booking and dispatch software. It can be integrated and further modified to set up an excellent ride-hailing application. The user-focused UI and easy navigation make it admirable, whilst the basic features included within make perfect sense as well.

Infinite Cab

Infinite Cab is tailor built taxi dispatch software, built with a vision to facilitate entry-level business. It eradicates the need of a tiring process while offering an appealing taxi booking software, It incorporates all the fundamental attributes like activity reports, resource management, real-time vehicle tracking and more.

Final thoughts

Building a business like Uber is not easy as it seems. Apart from an all-efficient taxi application, it requires an executable business plan, a great marketing and promotional strategy and a great team to handle the support services. Moreover, one should be keen enough to understand the fluctuations in user’s demand, moreover, need an open approach to adopt the best of technological advancements and hence upgrading the business on a constant basis.