On-Demand Taxi Dispatch System: The Hope Or Hype For The Taxi Industry!

Two decades back, the terms- e-hailing, car sharing, car rental, or carpooling in the taxi industry were alien to the world. No one had ever imagined that they can book a vehicle on-the-go, track it in the real-time, and can pay for the ride at the fingertips. Plus, there were a lot of problems associated with conventional taxi booking and taxi dispatch system.

Thanks to Uber that has brought a wave of digital disruption in the taxi space by pioneering the concept of on-demand taxi booking application. The taxi booking software has thrived the passengers, drivers, and taxi business owners by brilliantly resolving the uncertainties, addressing the challenges, and living up to the promise made, that’s where the traditional taxi model failed.   

A quick glance at the 360-degree transformation that on-demand services brought:

From the passengers’ angle: they don’t need to wave their hands to hail a cab, don’t need to walk a mile in the hope of getting a taxi, or call the taxi services to get a taxi, which will again eat up a lot of time. 

From the traditional taxi business angle: the customer support doesn’t need to answer hundreds of calls to book a taxi, or for taxi delays, no need to call the driver to know their location, and don’t require to manually taxi dispatch system the booking request to the drivers after checking their availability.

The simplification of the taxi services, high performance, and the reduced cost have enabled Uber to localize the services across the globe and increase the business value to over $62.5 billion. Looking at the success rate of on-demand transportation software, more entrants, including Ola, Lyft, Hailo, Gett, and GetAround made their way to the mobile taxi services to win passengers, earn loyalty, and enjoy jaw-dropping revenues. 

The stats illustrating the same:

• The global on-demand transportation market size projected to reach USD 304.97 billion by 2025 at a CAGR of 19.8%. 
• With the astronomical growth of taxi applications, the US market projected to generate $2.81 billion revenue and the UK will go a notch with $2.94 billion revenue.
• The ride-hailing industry is expected to grow by eight-fold to $285 billion by 2030.

The alarming facts indicating that mobile taxi application will bring the staggering growth and big bundles as revenue to the raft of taxi service providers. Keeping the future scope aside, it’s important to know the diversified benefits that software offer to the passengers and gearing up the taxi businesses to adopt the digital solution. Let’s dive in!

For the passengers

• In a couple of clicks, the passengers can search for the nearby taxi and book the taxi for now, or later ride, in addition, they are aware of how much the travel costs to them.
• Post-booking, the passengers are informed about the confirmed booking with driver details who will pick up and drop them off at the destination so that passengers can directly communicate with drivers.
• Once, the driver starts approaching the passengers for pickup, both the passenger and driver can track the location on a map which helps passengers to guide the driver in arriving at the pickup location quickly. Also, there will be no unknown delays. 
• At the end of the ride, the passengers have the myriad of options to make the payment which ends up the hassle of carrying a lot of cash in the pocket. The E-receipts are sent to the passengers post-payment. 

For the taxi businesses

• The taxi business can make the presence felt worldwide, make the services available at a few taps away, and respond to the competition. 
• With the matching algorithm, the passenger demand for the ride gets fulfilled in a matter of seconds when software based on the passenger’s location, automatically dispatch the booking request to the nearby drivers through taxi dispatch system. 
• With GPS integration, the vehicle’s location and speed can be tracked in the real-time, which helps in identifying the malfunctioning in the vehicle proactively and reducing the worse consequences of unfortunate events; notifying the driver to drive under speed limits; ensuring the passenger’s safety through instant access.  
• With waypoints sequence algorithm, the driver’s efficiency can be improved as according to route guidance and traffic conditions, multiple pickups and deliveries can be scheduled for the same route in real-time.
• With fare transparency and flexibility, the passengers are aware of how much they have to pay for the ride, including basic fees, toll tax, waiting charges, and more, which eliminate the conflicts raised at the end of the journey for charging an unfair fare. Besides, the taxi businesses in the event of high demand for vehicles, make changes in the fare structure with prior notification so that passengers can either opt for travel at high-cost option or delay the travel until the price decline. With the surge pricing mechanism, it’s easier to adapt and meet supply and demand needs. 
• Feedback system helps in knowing the passenger’s reviews for the journey, which further gives insights into the driver’s behavior, services offered, and the things missing. Taking the review into consideration allow the taxi dispatch system business to remove the pain points and make the passengers’ journey best ever possible.
• Market the services like a pro. By sending the notifications such as coupon codes, free rides, or discounted rides right on the user’s mobile, the existing passengers can be brought back and new passengers can be acquired. Also, the notifications for new premium services or extra amenity facilities help in catching more eyeballs and make the passengers give them a try. 

Conclusion

It’s essential to jump on the train in which your target customers are traveling. Presently, all of them are living and breathing into mobile space. It’s the case of every industry and taxi industry is no exception. 

What should be your decision? Of course, be available where your customers are and live up to their expectations with a ‘mobile-first’ approach. Else, you are risking to become an extinct species later or sooner. Don’t hang fire to get off the mobile app idea from the ground.