How To Create A Ride Sharing App and How Much Does it Costs?

On-demand ride sharing apps have been gaining huge popularity in recent years as they make journeys cost-effective and convenient. Top market leaders like Uber, BlaBla, Lyft, and DiDi generate revenue in billions. In fact, the carpooling market is expected to reach an estimated $220 billion by 2025. The rising popularity of these carpooling apps has prompted a growing interest in ride sharing app development.

As you have decided to have a foothold in the ever-expanding ride-sharing industry, this article will help you understand how to make a ride sharing app and how much does it costs.

How do Ride Sharing Apps Work?

Carpooling or ride sharing apps are quite different from taxi booking apps. The idea of ride sharing apps is to share the ride with someone heading to the same destination. The working mechanism of carpooling apps is as follows

Requesting

Riders send a request via application to book a ride.

Matching of Driver and Rider

The request is received by a nearby driver. Drivers can either accept or decline the request.

Ride Hosting

The rider has the option to share the ride with other riders who are requesting the same. Hosting a ride may depend on routes, pick up and drop off locations of all riders.

Ride Commences

The host receives and accepts passenger requests to share the ride

Payment

Passengers have the option to choose the payment method – either cash or cashless. The total fare is equally divided between the riders depending on the travel distance.

Rating

The app provides the option to rate the trip and leave reviews about passengers and drivers.

User Roles and Feature Set in Ride Sharing App

The app has three user roles – Customer, Driver, and the Admin Panel.

Customer App

• Sign up/Log in
• Finding a Ride
• Cancel a Ride
• Real-Time Tracking
• Chat System
• Passenger Profile
• Payment System
• Push Notifications
• Reviews & Ratings

Driver App

• Log in/Sign up
• Accept/Reject Ride Request
• Rider’s Trip Details
• Navigation System
• Contact Passenger
• Payments
• Plan-ups for the Day

Admin Panel

• Driver Management
• Vehicle management
• Payment management
• Dashboard
• Compliant Management
• Ratings & Reviews
• Earning Report

How to Make a Ride Sharing App like Uber?

The popularity of carpooling app development stands behind the number of apps for carpooling available on the market. They benefit both customers and service providers financially. However, there are numerous factors to consider before developing a ridesharing or taxi booking app.

Discovery Phase

A wide variety of ridesharing apps are available in the market such as Uber, Lyft, etc. So, how would your carpool app beat the competition? If you want your app to stand out, you have to build a strategy and target the unique niche. It is important to align your Uber clone app with your overall business strategy when developing it.

Furthermore, choosing the right rideshare business model is important to fulfill your customers’ needs as well as the expectations of your stakeholders. You must consider key partners, customer segments, key resources, distribution channels, cost structure, and revenue stream, among other things.

Feature List

Choose the feature set with proper research as they make your mobile application more efficient and appealing to users. Overloading the app with features, on the other hand, may have the opposite effect. As a result, it is crucial to have an optimal number of features while paying special attention to unique features that your app may provide to end-users.

Wireframing and UI/UX Design

It is important to have an eye-catching, interactive, yet simple mobile app design that will grab the attention of users. The first step is wireframing, which involves creating wireframes for app screens such as the driver app, rider app, and the admin panel. This is time-consuming, but it lays the groundwork for the app’s core functionality.

Ride sharing app development

In the development phase, the first stage is backend development in which the dev team works on the web server, app server, and builds the database.

All the data used by your ride-hailing app is stored in a single database. This stage of the development process will determine the app’s functional core.

Then comes the role of mobile app developers who build visual elements of the app that users can see. If you’re building the web application, then the development process includes database design, admin panel passenger dashboard, and dispatcher panel.

Technology Stack

Backend

• Node.Js
• Java
• PHP

Android/iOS mobile app stack:

• Kotlin
• Swift

Geolocation

• Android - Google’s Location API, Google Maps Android API, Google Maps
• iOS - CoreLocation framework, mapKit, Google Maps

Push Notifications

• iOS - Apple Push Notification Service
• Android - Google Cloud Messaging, Twilio for SMS notifications

Payment Integration

• PayPal
• Stripe

Cloud Server

• Amazon Web Services
• Google Map Engine
• Microsoft Azure

Database

• MySQL
• MongoDB
• SQLite

How Much Does it Cost to Develop a Ride Share App?

The ride sharing app development cost may depend on several factors including;

• The platform you choose for carpooling app development – be it Android, iOS, or cross-platform presence.
• The dedicated team comprises mobile app developers (Android or iOS), frontend or backend developers, designers, software testers or QAs, and project managers.
• The cost of hiring and working with a rideshare app development company.
• Features that you want to add to your Uber clone app.
• Technology stack for the project
• The central user role

The Final Word

Having your own vehicle is essential these days, but not everyone can afford it. Apart from that, people are becoming more environmentally conscious nowadays. Ride sharing apps are a smart way of commuting and help in reducing CO2 emissions by limiting the vehicles on the road.

You can achieve customer satisfaction by getting assistance from the best on-demand mobile app development company like iapp Technologies LLP. Our dedicated team of mobile app developers assists you in making a highly functional ride sharing app.