Improved ride-sharing services with BidTaxi

Discuss about the Traffic And Urban Public Transportation Systems.

Considering the recent scenario, where public transport system is over burdened with huge number of travelers it is necessary to outline a solution for coping up with the large number of city dwellers. Daily passengers are found struggling to find a cab to reach their destined location, thus increasing the dependence on private vehicles (Stiglic et al., 2015). The Bid taxi aims to facilitate the ride-sharing services in the city. The BidTaxi aims to improvise the existing cab system. Apart from allowing customers to avail pre-paid services, BidTaxi utilizes bidding services for the prescribed rides. The taxi service given by the BidTaxi incorporates a system where a customer could enter his/her pick up location and the destination location. This gets broadcasted to the BidTaxi drivers who could then bid for the passengers. The customer and driver could avail the necessary information such as cost estimation, routes and required time with the help of the BidTaxi mobile application or through the BidTaxi website. The customer will be reverted back within ten minutes. The system will keep a track on the entire journey of the traveler and the customers have to make the necessary payments once they reach their destined location (Stiglic et al., 2015). This report mainly discusses the advantages that the BidTaxi service can provide to the present date city dwellers and focuses on the fact that why it is essential to incorporate such services in public transportation.

In normal taxi booking services it is mostly seen that the travelers are not satisfied with the rides. There is no option for the customer to file a complaint or avail compensation for poor service but in case of the BidTaxi, the drivers are required to be certified. Other than that, each of the vehicles of the BidTaxi is strictly checked beforehand for the purpose of road worthiness. Thus, there lies very less chance of mishap during the journey. BidTaxi services can ensure their customer’s safety and comfort during the journey period (Ma, Zheng & Wolfson, 2013). Such improved services will attract more people to opt for carpooling rather than using their personal vehicles.

Considering the present date pollution rate it is essential to reduce the emissions due to vehicles. Such ride-sharing could reduce the number of private vehicles on the main roads. One of the main reasons for heavy traffic in some cities is the unavailability of the car parking; if people choose to ridesharing rather than using private vehicle this can reduce congestion up to some extent (Furuhata et al., 2013). As per the reports of the surveys, the overall percentage of greenhouse gas emission can fall down if people switch to ride-sharing (Johnson, 2015). It is essential that the governing bodies of the city should enact plans so that the customers have a wider option of selecting the mode of transport because that could reduce the number of vehicles in the city. BidTaxi with its much secured and safer services have a potential to attract a number of travelers. A typical four-wheeler vehicle emits nearly 4.7 metric tons of CO₂ every year (Seinfeldn & Pandis, 2016). Considering this huge amount of emission it is necessary that more and more people is encouraged to opt for public transportation system. Incorporation of the BidTaxi service to the public transport system can make the transportation system hassle free for the everyday passengers. The concept of ride-sharing will increase the reusability of the vehicles thus reducing the number of vehicles in the cities. Thus, ride-sharing can be effective in reducing the pollution rate up to some extent.

Reduced emissions and congestion

In the recent times, it can be seen that Smart phones have became the part and parcel of the city dwellers. Keeping this context in mind, the BidTaxi enable its customers to avail the services through mobile applications or through the official website of the BidTaxi, thus providing the customers with easier access to the carpooling service. The customer could book the ride by inserting the name of the destination location and all the necessary information regarding the ride will be displayed in their smart phones (Goel, Kulik & Ramamohanarao, 2017). In order to ensure a pleasant journey it is essential that the rider and the driver maintain a cordial relationship. Keeping this context in mind, the BidTaxi also allows the driver as well as the customer to rate or comment about each other. In other words, the BidTaxi have an inbuilt system for star-rating which will appear in the online IDs of both the customer and the driver. In case the driver is given a poor rating he/she could get a scope for improving. The existing ride-sharing models in the market are mainly customer-centric, which means their main focus is to gain customer satisfaction but in the case of BidTaxi the view of the drivers are also taken into account, even they are given chance to give ratings regarding the customer (Cici et al., 2013). The BidTaxi ride-sharing services are supposed to be of two-sided nature which includes the passengers and the drivers. The passengers will be provided with much greater availability of cars as well as shorter waiting duration. The type of vehicle could be easily chosen from the concerned mobile application. The greater availability and the faster service would attract more number of customers. The more number of customers sign up the mobile application will lead to the more profit to the drivers as they would get a chance to pick up more number of passengers (Alexander & González, 2015). The easy mode of payment offered by the BidTaxi service will also attract more number of customers. The customer could make the payment with the help of debit card or could avail the gift cards from the supermarkets. Customers who do not have credit/debit cards could opt for other mode of payment such as Osko, where the customers have to book the services from the BidTaxi office (Teubner & Flath, 2015).

Ride-sharing platforms such as BidTaxi can provide the city dwellers with ample number of transportation option thus enhancing the consumer welfare. In other words, the customers could choose from the range of vehicles such as cheaper cars or a luxurious car. This will also ensure higher utilization of the already existing vehicles in the city. This would enable all the categories of customers to switch to ride-sharing (Cohen & Kietzmann, 2014). The BidTaxi also aims to encourage the travelers by various means to choose ridesharing over their personal vehicles. Some of the approaches of the BidTaxi involve giving the customers with status points for booking their rides. The customers can utilize these points for availing discount in their consecutive rides, providing tips to the drivers or can contribute to the charity; this will facilitates service loyalty to the customers. Such schemes will encourage more number of customers to participate in ride-sharing. In the process this will ensure more number of passengers for the BidTaxi drivers (Santi et al., 2014). Considering the amount of private vehicles in the cities, it can said that the normal taxi drivers run out of passengers as the passengers finds the manual process of searching and negotiating with the cab driver time consuming (Veer, 2017). Amidst such circumstances, ride-sharing services as that of BidTaxi will ensure a healthy income for the cab drivers as well. The ride-sharing business of BidTaxi gives equal opportunities and scopes to the passengers as well as the cab drivers. It provides the passengers with cost effective quality service as well as provides the cab drivers with a wider scope to earn more.

Easy access and payment

Conclusion

Considering all these aspects of the BidTaxi ride-sharing services it can be said that the BidTaxi have huge future scope. Booking a ride with the help of Smart phones is considered to be much convenient for the passengers. This business will also provide the drivers with wider opportunities as at the present era of Smart phones people tends to avail online services rather than the age-old process of cab booking where the customers have to bear the nagging of the taxi drivers. BidTaxi with its quality service will ensure that the more and more passengers opt of BidTaxi service rather than the manual process of searching for cab, negotiating the fare and convincing the cab driver. The GPS based location tracking and the mobile application of the BidTaxi makes the operation and the services much simpler and faster for both the drivers as well as the passengers. Such ride-sharing services will provide the daily passengers with ample number of advantages such as faster, comfortable and easier mode of service. Apart from these, incorporation of such innovative ride-sharing transport as one of the means of public transport can lead to the economic uplifitment of the cities. Although more innovations can be brought in the BidTaxi services in the near future but considering the present day scenario it can be concluded that the such ride-sharing services is the need of an hour.

None of the passengers will desire to get stuck in a taxi for a prolonged boring ride. In order to keep the customers entertained the BidTaxi could incorporate entertainment service in the tenure of the ride. In other words, in-trip entertainment can kill customer boredom in case the cab gets stuck in the traffic for a long period. In order to implement such system the BidTaxi will be required to install a touch-sensitive console such for the driver as well as the passengers. The console will consist of number of options regarding entertainment such as music, videos, news and games, a browser connecting to the internet and trip-based features (Lesh, 2013). The passenger could sync the inbuilt system with his/her smart phone so that they can avail the services such as Sony LIV or Apple music. The BidTaxi can also launch its own playlist for providing the customers with a soothing travelling experience (Buckley, Fishman & Kaufmann, 2015). Apart from this, in-car WIFI connections are highly recommendable for the BidTaxi ride-sharing business. Such in-car innovation could bring a huge transformation in ride-sharing services and can also improve the customer experience. Considering the business point of view it is essential for the BidTaxi to earn customer satisfaction thus it is highly recommendable that the BidTaxi incorporates such innovation in its car ride that makes it distinguishable from the existing carpooling services in the market (Alonso-Mora et al., 2017). Providing a pleasing experience in the form of in-car entertainment can prove to be a success for BidTaxi in the long run.

Consumer welfare and driver opportunities

It is highly recommendable that the BidTaxi provides its driver with special courses in order to cope up with the technological advancement in the recent times. The BidTaxi service involves the handling of mobile applications, GPS tracking. It is essential that the drivers are well trained regarding the various operations of the application as well as the system software. Well-trained drivers will also ensure a smoother and safer travelling experience to the passengers (Azevedo & Weyl, 2016). The driver should also be trained on how he should attend the customers as there are number of customers. The session can be conducted for a prolonged time period and each and every query of the trainee drivers should be addressed in details. Other than this, it is highly recommendable that all the features of application starting of rating the riders, viewing the customer feedbacks and picking the customers all the process should be explained in depth during the training session (Rassman, 2014). This will only improve the service quality of the BidTaxi service. The pros and cons of the business should also be explained in detail to the BidTaxi drivers. Apart from this, it is suggested that as the BidTaxi provides easier access of servicers to the customers, it can also provide a simpler option to the drivers for enrolling as the BidTaxi driver such as launching a mobile application where the driver could apply for the BidTaxi service could engage more number of drivers in the profession.

References

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