Borrow-A-Ride Services: How Your Taxi Service Can Compete

Many larger cities are currently facing a new wave of transportation competition. No longer do taxis compete for fares, but taxis compete against newer types of transportation services. For example, one type of service from a rental car agency now parks several cars on college campuses. When a college student without a car wants to get off campus for awhile, he or she pays one low rate for a few hours and checks the car out of the lot. It completely eliminates the need for a car on campus or hiring a taxi service. If you struggle with competing against similar services, here is what you can do.

Create an App for Your Business

If you have not done so already, develop a simple to use app that your passengers can download for free and use to hail your taxi service. This is a very popular feature in many other countries. It saves a lot of time and saves the minutes on your customers' phone plans. The app communicates directly to your business computer in your dispatch office, notifying your dispatcher that a fare needs to be picked up. If you have a really good app developer working for you, the app will also calculate and estimate the total cost of the fare for your customers before they are picked up.

Undercut Rental Car Prices

College students are constantly looking for the cheapest way to get around. To compete with car rental services, consider undercutting the cheapest rental rates by offering fares for less than the least rental car rate. One rental car company offers rates as low as $10-$20/day. As long as the students do not ask to be shuttled over "x" number of miles in a day, you could easily offer a fixed fare for students. Students rarely want to rent a car for an entire day because there is too much responsibility behind keeping it safe and returning it. Your taxi service could give them a better deal.

Coming up with More Innovative Ways to Compete

The price of transportation is always the bottom line with your customers. If it costs too much to get somewhere, customers will either opt to skip going anywhere or find a cheaper choice. With a little innovation and creativity, you can come up with a service that is unique and that does not cost your fares a lot of money to ride. Talk to places like http://www.yellowcabaz.com for more information.