Things To Know Before You Build A Rideshare App

Nowadays, apps are everywhere! All services which people may need can be found on smartphones in the Play Market or App Store. For example, the ridesharing market is growing in popularity extremely fast! In the USA, we can count at least 3 key apps: Uber, DiDi, and Lyft. The creators of these rideshare apps get billions annually!

It is not surprising that analogical applications can be found all around the world. BlaBlaCar, for example, is the most popular platform for European citizens. It can boast of at least 1.5 million clients.

What’s more, ridesharing is expected to become even more popular and valuable in the nearest future. So what does it mean for you? Despite the number of apps available on Play Market or App Store, you can still create a beneficial and special one!

Lucky for you, our team is ready to explain how to build a successful rideshare application. So, if you are really serious about doing it, keep reading this article till the end!

What does the ridesharing app mean?

What does ridesharing mean? It is the ability to get from one place to another by booking a car or driving service. Why is it beneficial? In this case, we can talk about mutual benefits since both drivers and passengers can take advantage of ridesharing. Firstly, users can get where they want to comfortably and relatively cheaply. On the other hand, drivers are capable of saving on fuel costs.

Some drivers also want to find a company for a trip to make it more engaging. Friendly talks, music, and new people. Some drivers find it extremely appealing.

Moreover, sometimes people can search for a second driver to make the long trip easier. All in all, ridesharing is about people who are driving to the same city or location! Thanks to such apps as BlaBlaCar, UberPool, and many others, traveling has become an easy thing to do.

The principles of work

Proposal: The drivers publish information about their future rides. They specify the place, time, and cost.

Booking: The clients search for the most appealing variant for them, considering the driver’s ratings, price, and the car itself. Then they book the most suitable ride.

Charges: App users should pay both within an application and in cash after the ride.

Feedback: Drivers and passengers leave their feedback and rate each other.

What about monetizing?

If you want to build a ridesharing application, decide on the monetization model since few of them.

The most popular ones include:

  • Advertisement charges
  • Booking charges for riders (app users pay a small booking charge to prove the seriousness of their intentions)
  • Transaction charges for car owners

It may be surprising for you, but BlaBlaCar takes money from its users for booking rides. So, for example, if the ride costs £35, you will pay nearly £5 to the platform.

How to make a Successful Ridesharing Platform

Ok, let’s talk about the principles of building a ridesharing application, taking BlaBlaCar as an example. Its creator built one platform for both drivers and passengers. People can perform two functions depending on their purposes and circumstances.

Personal Profile

In most cases, mobile apps are integrated with phone numbers, email, and social media. Thanks to it, they can get access to their profiles easily within a few clicks.

Private pages don’t have to be overloaded with information. Although there should be some basic things like photo, age, name, number, payment method, rating, and rides history.

If we take BlaBlaCar, this service gives users the ability to set their preferences in their profile. It may include their attitude to loud music, smoking, talks and even the number of passengers! What’s more, the drivers can specify their car’s model and number. I do think that such “filters” make the ride more predictable and comfortable.

Establishing Contacts

Rideshare apps provide users with the opportunity to communicate and decide on some crucial issues. For example, they can choose a pickup point, exact time, the ability to place luggage, etc.

Another way to make people’s life easier is the notification system. Users get push notifications about ride booking, SMS, ride status, or driver’s/client’s reply. Since ridesharing apps are rarely used daily, this option is entirely beneficial for all users.

Choosing a Ride

If a passenger wants to book a ride, they must authorize, specify their destination, pick up point, and search. After choosing the best variant, a user can contact a driver to decide on some crucial details or immediately book a particular ride.

The most convenient thing is that passengers see the price of all rides before choosing them. Thanks to it, people do not have to ask and answer all these questions connected with charges.

On the other hand, drivers can also choose whether they accept the passenger or not. If the car owner’s plan has changed, they can cancel a ride or decline potential clients.

Another pivotal feature is viewing ratings, comments, and even the number of published rides. Thanks to this information, users can decide who they want to travel with. Moreover, if there are no suitable rides for you, you can ask for push notifications if one appears.

Drivers’ Page

If a person wants to find a company for a ride, they have to authorize and create a new ride, specifying time, destination, pickup point, date, and other important information.

The drivers also set the number of free places. Every accepted passenger would be shown in the ride’s details. As it was mentioned above, the driver can decide whether to accept or drop a passenger.

Integrated Tools

All passengers have the possibility to pay online or in cash. If a person wants to pay in cash, they can do it after a ride. Although if it is paying online, a specific procedure must exist. To make it possible, the developer of a ridesharing app can integrate it with PayPal or GooglePay.

Secondly, GPS navigation also plays a significant role. It helps to detect the location of a driver or a passenger. Moreover, thanks to GPS navigation, you can set a particular pickup location and see the whole driver’s route. The most popular platform for such purposes is Google Maps since it offers detailed maps.

Admin Dashboard

Each ridesharing app must include an admin panel. Thanks to this dashboard, it is possible to manage and monitor the platform’s work. Moreover, it enables block, search, checks users, their ratings, and payments. It is a tool where your apps’ brain is located.

You should remember that you can add all possible features you want to! We inform you about the most important apps to make you aware of your potential competitors. Indeed, if you want to build a popular ridesharing application, you must be creative and innovative!

So, come up with an idea and get down to business. The faster you begin, the more opportunities to create something special you have!

How much does it cost to build a good Rideshare Application?

Probably, this question is the most urgent for you. Unfortunately, this article can’t tell you the exact sum of money you will need since everything depends on the functionality of your future product. The price will be determined by the number of hours your team will spend on the developing process.

Although we will help you calculate the approximate price of your rideshare application, which includes charges for planning, design, and testing processes, the average price in Eastern Europe is $50 per hour of a specialist’s work.

Let’s start with prices for developing login and registration features. The pricing is an overall rough calculation and not an accurate figure.

For IOS, it can be around $3k, android also $3k, and for backend, it can be almost $2k. So overall, it can be around $8k.

What about the average prices for basic functions for passengers?

For IOS, it can be around $13k, android also $13k, and for backend, it can be almost $9k. So overall, it can be around $35k.

Prices for basic driver’s features:

For IOS, it can be around $8k, android also $8k, and for backend, it can be almost $6k. So overall, it can be around $22k.

Last but not least come prices for the admin dashboard for managing the app’s work. It can be estimated to be $17k.

The most pricy parts of the app building process are the creation of code and design. Of course, charges vary depending on the experience and expertise of your team. However, it is not a good idea to opt for the cheapest one since you can sacrifice the quality of your product in such away. So, is it a good idea to spend money on a bad-quality app when it comes to your investments?

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