Your Own Taxi App vs Uber: How Independent Firms Keep Their Passengers
The Short Answer
Passengers open Uber for four things: a price before they book, card payment, a car they can watch arriving, and an app that remembers them. An independent firm that offers the same four, in its own app and on its own website, keeps most of them, because it also offers what Uber does not: a car guaranteed for a pre-booked time, account billing, local drivers and a phone that a person answers. Your own app also keeps the passenger’s details and the whole fare with you.
Most independent taxi firms do not lose passengers to Uber because Uber is cheaper. They lose them because, at eleven at night outside a restaurant, Uber is easier. Open the app, see the price, tap, watch the car come. Ringing a taxi office, waiting on hold and being told “ten minutes” with nothing to look at cannot compete with that, however good your drivers are.
The good news is that “easier” can be copied, and the things Uber cannot copy are already yours.
Why passengers open Uber
- A price before they book. Not “about twenty pounds”, a number.
- Card payment, already saved, with no fumbling at the end of the trip.
- A car on a map, with the driver’s name, the car and the registration.
- An app that remembers them: home, work, the last place they went.
None of that is about Uber’s drivers or its cars. It is about the booking. Give passengers the same four things with your name on them and the main reason to open Uber is gone.
What an independent firm does better
| Your firm | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| A car booked for a time, guaranteed | The 5am airport run is booked the night before and a car turns up. Pre-booked work is where independents win. |
| Accounts and invoices | Businesses, schools and hospitals want one invoice a month and a statement, not forty receipts. |
| Local drivers | They know the estate with no street signs and the back entrance to the hospital. |
| A person on the phone | Some passengers will always ring, and some bookings are too complicated for an app. |
| The same firm every time | Regular passengers get to know your drivers, and your drivers know them. |
| Your own fares | You set the tariff and decide whether prices ever rise when it is busy. |
What your own app needs
If you are going to ask passengers to use your app instead of Uber, it has to be as easy. The minimum:
- A price from your own tariffs before they book.
- Card payment into your own account, plus cash for those who want it.
- The car on a map from the moment it is dispatched, with the driver’s details.
- Booking for later, as easily as booking now.
- Saved places and past trips, so a regular can book in three taps.
- Everything on one dispatch board: an app booking lands next to the phone bookings, not in a separate system someone has to watch.
Every Cabica plan includes a taxi booking app for iPhone and Android that does all of that, with card payments going into your own Stripe account and no commission on any fare. If you want it in your own name, with your icon and colours in your own App Store and Google Play listing, our sales team arranges it per firm. Our guide to white-label taxi apps explains what “in your own name” really involves.
Getting passengers to use it
An app nobody installs does nothing. What works, in our experience, is asking at the moments a passenger already has their phone out:
- After a phone booking, in the confirmation text: “Book faster next time with our app”, and the link.
- In the car: a small card with a QR code. The driver mentions it once.
- A first-booking promo code, so the first app booking costs a little less than ringing.
- Loyalty credit, so regulars build up something that keeps them with you.
- On your website, next to the booking form.
Should you work with Uber at all?
That is your decision, and some firms do. But it is a different business: the passenger books Uber, and you supply a car. Building your own booking channels is how a firm stays a firm rather than a supplier. Most of the operators we work with do both for a while, and watch which one grows.
See the passenger app, the booking website and the dispatch board together in a 20-minute demo.
Book a DemoFrequently Asked Questions
- Can a small taxi firm compete with Uber?
- Yes, by matching what makes Uber easy (a price before booking, card payment, a tracked car and an app that remembers the passenger) and leaning on what Uber does not offer: guaranteed pre-booked cars, account billing, local drivers and a person on the phone.
- How much does it cost to have your own taxi app?
- A separately built app commonly costs thousands of pounds plus upkeep. Some dispatch platforms include one in the subscription instead: every Cabica plan, from £100 a month, includes a customer app for iPhone and Android, and an app in the firm’s own name is arranged per firm with our sales team.
- How do I get passengers to download my taxi app?
- Ask when their phone is already out: in the booking confirmation text, with a QR card in the car, beside the booking form on your website, and with a first-booking promo code or loyalty credit as a reason to switch.
Written By
Chief Marketing Officer, Cabica
Somia Mukhtar leads marketing at Cabica and works with operators on how their firm appears to passengers — branded apps, booking sites and the reputation that sits behind both.