Last updated on August 14th, 2024
With many tech-enabled services making our lives more convenient, we can’t thank ride-hailing apps enough. Such apps have transformed the way we commute in our day-to-day lives with comfort and affordability. And the fact that the ride-hailing industry revenue is expected to reach US$212.80 billion worldwide by 2029 testifies to its significance in people’s lives.
We are fortunate to have several good ride-hailing apps, such as Uber, Lyft, Gett, etc., to our service. However, one of the most prominent taxi apps that provides exceptional customer service is BOLT. Formerly known as Taxify, Bolt has gained widespread popularity for offering a seamless platform to book rides and make one-touch payments. The worldwide annual revenue recorded by this giant brand was €1.3 billion (2022), which is increasing year by year.
The biggest reason behind the major triumph of Bolt is its highly advanced and user-friendly app. A simple yet attractive user interface and high-end app features make it extremely convenient and quick for customers to book their rides and avail of A-class services.
So, if the idea of having a Bolt-like ride-hailing app entices you, this comprehensive guide is for you. With the right approach, careful planning, and partnering with a reliable on-demand app development company, you can set out on a rewarding journey.
Read on to know everything that you need to know about how to build an app like Bolt.
Bolt – An Overview And Popular Features
Bolt is an Uber-like cab booking app that allows passengers to book taxis or register as drivers for cab services. Much like its competitors, Bolt offers various transportation options, including standard rides, luxury rides, and bike rentals. However, it was primarily developed to solve the problems of higher taxi pricing and poor services.
Competitive pricing and user-friendliness have made Bolt a top choice for ride-hailing services in over 45 countries. It operates in over 500 cities in Europe, Africa, Western Asia, and Latin America. With this, it positions itself as a significant player in the global ride-hailing market.
Premium App Features
Let’s dive into the top features of this popular app that make it stand out from the competitors. Some of these features are worth considering when developing your own Bolt-like taxi booking app.
Book A Ride
This is the primary feature of any bolt-like taxi booking app, and subsequently, your app. By letting passengers plot their destination on a digital map, Bolt simplifies their journey. With location services enabled on the users’ smartphones, the app can pinpoint the exact pickup point.
Driver Match
The app uses complex algorithms to match nearby drivers to customers. This reduces the travel distance between drivers and customers, enabling them to get a taxi faster. Besides, the drivers can also optimize routes for reduced fuel costs.
Service Selection
This feature ensures the passengers receive the service they exactly need from their ride. For example, passengers who need a luxury ride can ask for the same. Bolt offers as many service options as possible to their customers.
Ride Tracking
Bolt, like several other taxi booking apps, offers a safety feature “ride tracking” to track the route of the ride from pickup to destination. It helps quickly check any issues with the planned route and necessary actions could be taken. Moreover, the passenger can also share their ride details with their loved ones for enhanced safety.
Cross-Platform Support
Bolt is a web app that works on any device with a browser and an active internet connection. This enables it to serve a wider customer base across all platforms. Hence, to reach more customers, make sure you develop a cross-platform app, making it available on all mobile devices (Android & iOS),
Reviews
Bolt and other ride-booking apps like Uber have a review system for both passengers and drivers. Passengers can rate and give feedback to drivers for their conduct, driving skills, taxi cleanliness, etc. Similarly, drivers can rate and review their disrespectful or aggressive passengers. This two-way review system keeps both parties informed and safe while traveling.
Bolt SOS Button
The app has added an SOS button. Clicking the button alerts Bolt and lets you make an emergency call. Bolt treats it as an emergency and can send help if your location services are on.
Also Read: Top 10 Best Taxi Apps
How Do Bolt Make Money?
Here’s how you can capitalize on your Bolt-like taxi booking app:
Commission from drivers
Bolt and similar apps charge commission from each ride completed through the app. This is typically a percentage of the fare paid by the passenger. The percentage can vary depending on the market and agreement with drivers.
Service Fee
Bolt also charges service fees to passengers. These are added to the ride fare and cover operating costs.
Premium Features
Bolt offers premium features for a fee. For example, Bolt Plus and Bolt Lux provide additional benefits or more luxurious vehicle options for passengers willing to pay extra.
In-App Advertising
Bolt also earns its revenue by displaying advertisements of local businesses within the app. These can be for various products and services, including promotions for local businesses.
Delivery Services
In addition to ride services, Bolt has also expanded into delivery services. For example, Bolt Food charges restaurants a commission on each order delivered through the platform.
Partnerships & B2B Solutions
Bolt collaborates with businesses to offer taxi services for corporate clients. Companies often pay Bolt for bulk ride services, which can be a significant revenue stream.
Read More: How to Create a Taxi App? A Brief Guide
How To Build An App Like Bolt – The Step-By-Step Process
Now that you know the basics of Bolt-like business, it’s time to understand the process of developing such an app. Here are the steps that can help you develop a robust and user-friendly Bolt-like app:
Understanding The Market
It’s important to carry out in-depth research on the market and your rivals in order to succeed. This will assist you in recognizing any possible chances and comprehending the dynamics of the industry.
It is advised that you incorporate both primary and secondary research techniques to improve your company plan and implement successful tactics. These can include collecting data through surveys or interviews or using existing data available online or in research books.
Understanding your target audience’s preferences, problems, and competitors in the market is also advised. One of the most important steps in creating your own app is to analyze existing ride-hailing applications, taking into account their features, user interface, and revenue streams.
Identify and Define Your Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
As you already know there are thousands of ride-hailing apps available out there. Hence, you need a unique selling proposition to set your taxi booking service apart from competitors like Bolt and Uber.
This means providing something unique, such as reduced costs, first-rate customer support, cutting-edge technology, or focusing on a particular niche market. Determining what makes your app unique is crucial if you want to draw in and keep users.
In order to achieve this, you should set your goals and vision for the app. Define: Who is the target audience for you? Are you trying to compete on quality of service, pricing, or both? Your ability to stand out from the competition will be enhanced by clearly defining your unique selling proposition.
Choosing The Right Tech Stack
The next step in the process of how to build an app like Bolt is choosing the best-fit technological stack. This is an essential step for your Bolt-like app’s success. It is important to take into account variables like development cost, performance, and scalability.
For example, you may use Kotlin for Android and Swift for iOS for native app development. Instead, code reusability might be a benefit of cross-platform frameworks like React Native or Flutter. Also, decide on other tech requirements, such as database, cloud hosting company, programming language, and third-party APIs.
This will help you ensure your technological stack is strong, reliable, scalable, and flexible enough to sustain the expansion of your application as it grows or becomes popular.
Develop Key Features
When creating your Bolt or Uber-like taxi app, it’s crucial to focus on key features that guarantee a seamless and effective user experience. For ease of access, start with strong login and registration processes. To improve consumer convenience, incorporate real-time tracking and ride booking. Use in-app messaging to provide easy communication between passengers and drivers.
Further, secure transactions require reliable payment processing. Because they let customers provide comments, ratings, and evaluations contribute to the upkeep of service quality. The secret to having a well-organized fleet is to have elements for effective driver management. For instance, the Uber app offers safe payment methods, real-time GPS monitoring, and an easy-to-use interface for scheduling trips.
Making sure these features are reliable, attractive, and easy to use will result in a competitive and user-focused ride-hailing app like Bolt.
Designing the UI and UX
The user interface (commonly referred to as the app screen) plays an important role in driving more users to your business. A well-designed user interface with simple navigation makes it easy for users to use the app to book rides quickly.
So, when it comes to the UI of your Bolt-like app, focus on creating a clean and intuitive design. Prioritize user experience and make sure that the interface is visually appealing, user-friendly, and responsive across all devices. Also, prioritize streamlining the reservation process, enhancing map functionality, and guaranteeing device accessibility.
Decide On The Monetization Strategies
The goal of developing a Bolt-like app is to generate revenue or to make money. So, explore several monetization strategies for your app. Start by charging a portion of each transaction, such as ride charges, using commission-based fees. Use surge pricing to raise prices during busy periods and maximize profits from strong demand.
You can also consider providing consumers who desire access to better services or premium features with subscription options. In addition, take into account joint ventures with nearby companies for advertising purposes, since they might yield a consistent flow of income.
Every tactic has advantages, so consider which combination best matches the objectives and target audience of your app. By balancing these strategies, you may maximize your profits.
Development Phase
After deciding on the key features and design of your app, you can start thinking about the best way to construct it. It’s crucial to keep in mind that you will need to create two user portals, one with features most pertinent to drivers and the other for consumers.
It’s crucial to follow a structured development process while creating a ride-hailing app. These include a number of stages like requirement collecting, prototyping, coding, testing, and deployment. For iterative development, you can also think about utilizing agile approaches. These provide you the freedom to take user feedback into account and adjust to changing market needs.
But if you lack the expertise to develop your Bolt-like app on your own, you might consider outsourcing the creation of your app. A reliable app development company should be able to provide you with a development strategy, a portfolio of well-developed apps, and choices for post-release maintenance.
Implement Security Measures
Regardless of the app you build, the security of your users’ information is one of the most important aspects of app development. A secure app means handling sensitive user data and financial transactions.
To ensure your Bolt-like ride-hailing app is completely secure, implement security measures such as encryption and two-factor authentication.
App Testing
It’s crucial to thoroughly test your software before launching it in order to find and address any bugs, crashes, and usability problems. As an alternative, you may think about doing beta testing with a user base to get input and make adjustments prior to the public launch. Once you are satisfied with its functionality and reliability, you can release your app for the users.
Marketing & Promotion
Before you launch your taxi app, you must promote your app to create a buzz around. This can be achieved through promotional tactics such as social media promotion, strategic marketing campaigns, and influencer partnerships.
Make sure to enhance your app store visibility by including attention-grabbing screenshots, descriptions, and reviews. Furthermore, enticing first-time users to your app with discounts or referral bonuses can also help. Even after you have launched the app, it’s important to keep at your marketing and promotional activities to drive adoption.
Offer Outstanding Support Services
Customer support plays a pivotal role in making your Bolt-like app a successful venture. Hence, provide ongoing support to your users to address user queries, resolve technical issues, and collect feedback for continuous improvement.
Moreover, update your app regularly for bug fixes and new features to keep your users engaged and satisfied. Prioritizing customer satisfaction helps you build a loyal customer base and create a positive brand reputation.
Measure Success And Growth
Starting a taxi business isn’t limited to developing an app to make money and drive customers. Instead, it also involves measuring success regularly. Keeping a tab on certain key performance indicators (KPIs), such as user acquisition, retention rate, customer satisfaction metrics, and average revenue per user (ARPU) is important. Monitoring these metrics will help you ensure consistent growth of your taxi business and make informed decisions when expanding your business.
Suggested: How Much Does It Cost To Develop A Popular UK-based Rider App Like Gett Taxi?
How Can iTechnolabs Help You Build An App Like Bolt?
While the process of developing a Bolt-like app seems simple, it’s not actually! It requires a lot of technical knowledge and skills to develop a fully functional and feature-rich app. And this is where mobile app development companies like iTechnolabs come into the role!
We at iTechnolabs have helped many companies get a customized and white-label app to start and streamline their online taxi service business. Our mobile app developers come up with unique ideas to make apps that turn your vision into a real and profitable business. We have a firm hold on the latest technologies, including frameworks, programming languages, and other tools, to create a high-end taxi app. With our years of experience and industry expertise, we can help you build a successful Bolt-like ride-hailing app that stands out in the competitive market.
Get in touch with us to talk about your taxi booking app concept and get a free quote!
