If you want to get around in your city, one of the most tried and true methods is taking a taxi. While you might think the growth of Uber and Lyft has hurt the taxi business, there has actually been huge growth in how many taxi drivers are working in recent years.
These drives transport millions of Americans every year. With all of these taxis driving people around at all hours of the day, a taxi business can be quite lucrative. However, they aren’t always easy to own, operate and grow. You need to beat out the other options, as well as the other taxi companies in your city.
With that in mind, let’s go over 6 high-quality solutions for improving your taxi service in 2023.
Keep the Taxis in Good Shape
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While technological solutions are important, there is something to be said for offering a good in-car experience. The car should be kept clean, your vehicles should have comfortable seats and you should come up with other ways to improve the in-car experiences. For example, making sure you have things like an Aux cord, lightning cord or Bluetooth capabilities can help your riders enjoy their ride even more.
In addition to keeping the vehicles clean and using cutting-edge technology, the cars should also look good. No one wants to get into a car riddled with rust, dents or other imperfections. Use a variety of products, such as ceramic auto coating (learn more about it here), to keep the taxi cabs looking and performing their best. This will only help you grow and offer a more premium service.
Taxi Dispatch System
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One of the biggest hurdles for a taxi company to leap over is the successful dispatching of taxis. Sending out taxis to the right addresses at the right times, without a lot of wasted time, is incredibly important to the growth and success of your business. Dispatching should be simple and quick, to achieve the best possible results.
If the dispatching is slow, so will be the arrival of the taxi cabs. People want to travel quickly and if your taxi cab company can’t meet that need, the customers will find someone that can. While manually dispatching the taxis can work, it is also a good idea to have an auto dispatching system in place, as well. Whatever system you use, make sure it is as efficient and streamlined as possible.
The Collection of Analytics
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Business is all about making hard decisions. While some make these decisions based on a gut feeling, it is generally better to base them on data. As a result, your taxi company should collect data and analytics to help you make these decisions. You want the data of your drivers, the transactions, where your company has the most demand and several other insights.
You could even find a way to ask customers to rate their ride and share any thoughts, to give you a good idea of the average customer experience. All of this information and data can be used to make informed decisions that can help your taxi business grow. It can help you learn where to focus your efforts, areas you can improve and what things are working well.
Offer a Booking App and Better Payment Options
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A great solution to consider to boost your taxi business in 2023 is to offer an app. In order to rival the ride-sharing apps and even some other taxi companies, you should build an app that allows people to book their rides and potentially even track them. This will make it easier than having to call, and will take a fraction of the time.
In addition to offering people a different and easier way to book, you should also give them several payment options. Despite it being 2023, taxis are primarily a cash business. If you provide customers other ways to pay, it could increase how many people are willing to use your service. You could offer debit and credit in-car, an in-app payment option or any other solution you could imagine.
A More Rigorous Hiring Plan
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One of the single most important parts of running a successful taxi business are the drivers. They are who interact with your customers and are usually responsible for the good or bad rides they will experience. You want to offer a premium service with dedicated drivers, so you will need to have a rigorous hiring plan in place.
Having a detailed hiring solution in place will ensure you hire people who are good at their job and passionate about the opportunity. The more robust the plan or hiring method, the lower the chance that subpar drivers will fall through the cracks. Also, having some tool in place to allow for feedback is also a good idea, to ensure your drivers are a good representation of your company.
Improved Customer Service
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The importance of customer service in business cannot be overstated. This is especially true in the taxi business. Service is paramount and if people have a bad experience, they are unlikely to use your service again. In addition to simply being available by email, it is also good to have a live chat and/or hotline solution in place.
This will allow customers to reach out with any concern or question they have, no matter when they have it. Of course, be sure to hire quality customer service reps who are kind, helpful and resourceful. If customers have good experiences with your customer service, they are likely to remain a loyal customer.
In conclusion, we hope this blog post has been able to help you come up with some great solutions to improve your taxi service in 2023.
