What is a ridesharing app?
A ridesharing application is a web or mobile application with two sets of users: riders and drivers. Riders use the app to view nearby drivers, request pickup, view trip progress, and submit reviews of their drivers. Drivers use the app to receive pickup requests from riders, view route options, and submit reviews of riders. The app may also include a dashboard that enables administrators to analyze the performance of all drivers and riders.
Ridesharing apps are similar to most other on-demand delivery apps with real-time mapping components, such as task apps, delivery apps, and transportation rental apps. Uber and Lyft are the two most popular examples of ridesharing apps.
Examples of ridesharing apps built with Crowdbotics:
- A large trip management system for non-emergency medical transport. This is similar to Uber/Lyft but instead of a driver and a rider, trips for passengers are typically sponsored by 3rd party integration like a health insurance company.
What is the typical cost to build a ridesharing app?
A ridesharing app usually costs about $65,000 to build. However, the total cost can be as low as $50,000 or as high as $80,000. A ridesharing app with a low number of features (also known as a minimum viable product, or MVP) will be more affordable than an app that includes all intended functionality.
For example, here are some previous ridesharing app price quotes from Crowdbotics:
How long does it take to build a ridesharing app?
A ridesharing app usually takes 867 hours to build. However, a ridesharing app can be built in as few as 667 hours, or in as many as 1067 hours. The exact timeline mostly depends on how complicated your specific app is. As a general rule, it will take longer if you require highly custom designs, niche features, complex logic, or non-standard release platforms.
For example, some previous ridesharing apps build with Crowdbotics received the following hourly estimates:
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Crowdbotics has quoted and built hundreds of applications for teams of all sizes. Browse our historical estimates by industry and app type to understand possible costs and considerations.
How to successfully grow your ridesharing application
A ridesharing app can grow its user base by providing a more convenient experience than its competitors. In order to win over new users, a ridesharing app must clearly demonstrate that it provides significant value to the user at a lower cost than its competitors. Ridesharing apps also need to provide a sufficient amount of drivers to meet the demand in any given area.
Risks and challenges of building a ridesharing application
A ridesharing app faces legal and logistical challenges related to the employment classification of drivers, local ordinances related to taxi licensing, and rider or driver endangerment. Before creating a ridesharing app, you will want to ensure that you can meet all of the legislative requirements for ridesharing apps in your target market. You will also want to ensure that you have feedback mechanisms in your app (such as ID verification) to ensure high driver performance and to protect drivers from abusive rider behavior.
