On-demand taxi startups that are planning to follow the footsteps of Uber should reconsider. Instead of pursuing apps like Uber, you can learn from other successful Uber Alternatives.
Do you need a ride? Looking for a taxi for the past 15 minutes? Why would you even think of waiting so long when you can book a ride and get picked in no less than 5 minutes?
I’m not talking about Uber. Uber is so mainstream plus it is getting lots of bad reviews lately. Do you know the reason for Uber’s downfall? They are a multi-billion dollar enterprise that has started to serve a standard set of services to everyone, a one-size-fits-all kind of approach.
We got a lot of love and positive response from readers on our latest blog on how to make a rideshare app. This blog is a spin-off to the same, in response to the requests to write on the best apps like uber to make money.
What is wrong with Uber
People (your potential customers) like personalized service. Uber did that when it was a small startup, but as it grew, it started losing its touch of personalization. Sure now Uber offers a plethora of new services like UberPOOL (Carpooling service), UberEATS (for food delivery), UberBOAT (for waterways transport), UberAIR (private helicopter), etc. But it is still not being loved by passengers, unlike other new taxi apps you can use instead of Uber.
Look at the pie charts. It is clear as day that Uber is losing its dominion over mobile taxi app industry. Within the next 5 years, it will be just another smaller piece in the pie. The symptoms have already started to show.
You can see in the below graph that most of the Taxi service apps charge equal to Uber and yet people are ready to pay more to Lyft, Gett, and Juno (very successful alternative apps like uber) for the better services that they provide.
Uber has a billion dollar financial backing, so following their business plan for a new ride-sharing app startup like yours is strongly inadvisable.
SEE ALSO: How To Build An App Like Uber
If you are planning to start your own taxi startup business, then I would suggest you watch out and get inspired by business models of these similar apps like Uber & Lyft.
Without wasting any more time, let’s look at the amazing taxi app alternatives to Uber.
Top Taxi App Alternative Companies like Uber
Lyft
At present, Lyft is the most prominent Uber competitor in the taxi business. Lyft is spread across 60 cities all over the US. They understood that they are the underdog in the ride-hailing industry and made the most of it.
Lyft does a thorough background check on every driver that they take in, so the passengers can be sure that they are getting into a safe vehicle when ordering a ride from Lyft. The Lyft app allows the passengers to track their driving route and their driver’s details.
Different Lyft Ride Models
- Lyft is an on-demand ride that seats up to 4 passengers.
- Lyft XL(previously Lyft Plus) is a minivan or SUV that seats up to 6 passengers.
- Lyft Shared(previously Lyft Line) allows you to split the cost of the ride with other passengers by carpooling to the common route. It’s the most cost-friendly Lyft service.
- Lyft Lux offers a luxury sedan that seats up to4 passengers.
- Lyft Black is the most expensive Lyft service, offering luxury sedans & SUVs with top-rated drivers.
Gett
Gett (previously known as Gett Taxi) is an Israel-based taxi app similar to Uber.
After Lyft, Gett is the fastest rising Uber alternative taxi app in the USA. Their smart move was to lower their ride fares when Uber was raising their prices up because of their losses. They are so committed to becoming the next big Uber alternative in the USA that they dropped their prices in New York by a staggering 25%.
This gave them the competitive edge needed to survive the large market share of Uber. Now they also offer promotional deals to their passengers via their Gett mobile app. This far-sighted approach of theirs has helped them in achieving the impossible. Beginning from Israel and growing in the US, they’ve now spread out to cities like London and Moscow.
One unique feature that they offer is that the passengers can book a ride up to 2 weeks in advance. I believe that Gett is on the verge of success where they can give Uber a run for their money.
Curb
Curb the taxi app came into existence back in 2008 due to the merger between two transportation businesses; Taxi Magic and Way2Ride. Curb has always been a pioneer in adopting the latest technology in their taxi services. They were the first to install credit card readers in their cabs in New York City.
The Curb was initially just another taxi startup app similar to Uber, but now it offers more premium rides. They have also added an option in their app to select a wheelchair-accessible vehicle.
Another plus point is that the passengers don’t have to pay the drivers directly. Pay in advance and just hop-in and hop-out of the ride. The app user can also hire a car to ride themselves via the curb app.
SEE ALSO: How to Start a Transport Business
Juno
Juno only takes in former drivers from Lyft and Uber that have ratings more than 4.7 (Tell me about making a profit from your competition). If Gett gave the goodies to the passengers, then Juno did that for their drivers.
The reason why top Uber and Lyft drivers are moving to Juno is that they take a lesser commission from drivers. Juno takes no commission in the tips that drivers earn. Drivers are also paid more in surge areas, but Juno won’t charge a penny more from passengers.
The Juno drivers are allowed to block troublesome passengers so that they are never paired with them in the future.
Different Juno Ride Models
- Juno Bliss is the most basic ride-hailing service offering seats for up to 4 passengers.
- Juno Lux is the luxury service line where passengers can book luxury cars for cab service.
- Juno SUV is the ride service for more than 4 passengers the ride is as the name suggests an SUV car.
Country Specific Taxi Companies like Uber
Ola Cabs
Ola Cabs is an India-based taxi app alternative to Uber. More than 600,000 registered drivers serve 50,000,000+ passengers under Ola in 100+ Indian cities since 2010. These figures are highest for any Indian app ride services like Uber.
The riders can pay cash or choose from a myriad of online payment options like credit/debit card, net banking, app wallet, etc. Following the steps of Gett, Ola offers pre-booking cab option for a couple of days in advance.
Different Ola Cab Ride Models
- Ola Micro is the smallest car in the Ola fleet with cheapest price fare.
- Ola Mini offers the lowest cost AC cab for 4 passengers.
- Ola Prime offers high-end service with a premium car, free WiFi, and top of the line drivers.
- Ola Share is the carpooling service where people going the same route can share the ride and split the fare;/b>.
- Ola Lux offers the most luxurious cars with trained drivers and A-class services all around.
SEE ALSO: Complete Automotive Solutions
DiDi Chuxing
DiDi is China’s biggest full-fledged transportation platform. It offers all the transport options from bike sharing, tuk-tuks, cars, and even (still in trials) private helicopters. DiDi Chuxing is one of the best apps like Uber, lyft; it is an entire transport enterprise that is on the verge of expanding all over the world.
The passengers can book a cab from the app, which can be a public taxi, a private vehicle, or a shared car. This ride fare is calculated based on the type of vehicle you choose and destination address.
It was in 2016 when DiDi Chuxing bought Uber in China, and to the joy of all non-Chinese residents, DiDi announced to launch its application in English, with support to credit cards from 12 countries as a payment method.
Different DiDi Ride Models
- DiDi Public Taxi service is where the local driver can offer their service under the DiDi app with their public taxi.
- DiDi Private Cab service is for the drivers that own private car turned into a DiDi cab.
- DiDi Ride Share is the carpooling service offered by DiDi where passengers going the same route can share the ride and split the fare.
LeCab
France has banned Uber. The company that made the most out of this ban is LeCab. It’s a 100% original French startup that serves in the beautiful city of Paris. LeCab boasts that you can book a ride with them in Paris and will get the cab at your location in less than 5 minutes.
With over 70,000 active users, LeCab is dominating the ride-hailing market in France’s capital city. LeCab is believed to be the best ride-hailing app like Uber in France. The USP of LeCab is that they provide private jets to tour Paris! They have partnered with PrivateFly to provide this air service.
LeCab uses standard France built Peugeot 508 car as their choice of vehicle to support the economy of the country. There are some really cool app features that they have brought to their LeCab app. Passengers can re-book their ride with just a single click and can reset the details with just a shake to the smartphone.
Careem
They are presently in 15+ countries across 120+ cities. There are 1 million Careem drivers that server more than 30 million people in all of the middle east, and parts of South Asia.
Uber recently acquired Careem for a whopping $3.1 billion. Uber CEO has announced that Careem will still work independently, this freedom and Uber’s backing will give Careem a chance it needs to stand against other competitors in the Emirates. The app-based uber like taxi startup started in 2012 and has come a long way since then.
SEE ALSO: Build an App Like Uber For Trucks
New Taxi Startups: Alternative Companies like Uber
Tesluxe
Tesluxe is a new age Uber-like ride-hailing startup that targets high-end customers. This startup provides luxury taxi services for premium users. It’s for the people that wish to arrive at parties and events in style. Tesluxe provides a chauffeur type of personal ride service in the premium line of Tesla cars.
Tesluxe is much more than a taxi app alternative to Uber. This premium ride service is getting a lot of traction among the rich residential regions. In the times of ridesharing and discount app rides, Tesluxe is a startup that is like Rolls Royce to Uber’s station wagon.
We have high hopes for such niche best taxi apps that are creating a separate market for themselves. Tesluxe is a luxury app like Uber and Lyft that you should look out for.
Bitaksi
With more than 34,000 taxi drivers serving 200,000 registered users, Bitaksi is the most popular taxi-hailing app like Uber in Istanbul. They brought cashless payment to Istanbul. It is among the few taxi-hailing services that offer in-app credit card payment feature in Istanbul.
The features like the real-time traffic update of the route, cashless transactions may seem simple app features when compared to Uber. But the same thing done by an all Istanbul taxi app startup is a big step, and they are going to become the underdog tale of their country.
They do a solid background check on all their drivers before hiring them. The ratings given by passengers make their service more reliable.
GoCatch
GoCatch is a premium on-demand taxi app service. We can say that it’s a similar app like Uber of Australia. They have the largest fleet of taxis in Australia. The best thing about GoCatch is that they charge the same fare as the metered cabs. So the passengers get a mobile ride-hailing experience for the same price as a local metered taxi.
If the passengers pay using a credit card, then they only charge 5% surcharge as opposed to the standard 10% across Australia. The passengers get the driver’s contact information and can track their ride on the app map. GoCatch holds dominion over 40% of the taxi-tech industry of Australia.
Which is the Best Taxi Alternative to Uber?
We began with the question, “Is there another best apps like Uber and Lyft?” Well, you’ve found several across the world. Now the real question is how much does it cost to start a taxi business startup or enterprise as great as the ones mentioned here.
For that, you need a really talented and dedicated team of Uber-like Taxi app developers. These taxi businesses are only as good as the app that they offer. So you need to have a powerful, user-friendly, and scalable taxi apps like Uber. Contact us to learn more about how your taxi business can be as great as the ones mentioned here.
