The global taxi market is expected to register a CAGR of 9.22%, during the forecast period, 2019-2024. While in Vietnam, Mai Linh Group – one of the major taxi operators in the country, is trying to focus on providing ridesharing services, to overcome the country’s mobility challenges
Reduced taxi fare and ease of booking through the mobile app are the major factors that driven the online booking type taxi service to capture a major share of more than 40% of the global taxi market in 2017. With the advent of e-hailing taxi applications such as Uber, Lyft, Ola, etc., taxi services have been one of the game-changing innovations of the transportation sector.
Passengers preferences for utilizing taxi services and ride-sharing services across developing countries such as India, China, Vietnam, etc. has increased. This has led to companies enhancing the options and expanding their operations to be provided in mobile applications to retain their respective market share in the highly competitive market.
Asia-Pacific captured a major share of the market accounting for more than 70% of the global motorcycle/bike taxi market in 2018. Increasing traffic congestion and low taxi fare compared to other modes of transportation are the major factors driving the growth of the motorcycle/bike taxi service in the Asia-Pacific market.
Scope of the Report
A taxi or cab is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxi conveys passengers between locations of their choice. This service differs from other modes of public transport where the pick-up and drop-off locations are determined by the service provider, and not by the passenger.
The global taxi market has been segmented by booking type, vehicle type, service type, and geography.
Key Market Trends
Increasing Demand from Online Channel
Ease of booking through a mobile application and online websites has significantly attracted customers to prefer online booking over offline booking, owing to the increasing usage of internet and smartphones by the people, across the world.
Additionally, information, like tracking the driver position, pre-estimated ride fare, driver contact, and vehicle details available within an app at a short time has further increased the customer preference more toward the online booking option.
Many major operators, like Grab, Uber, Ola, etc., provide ridesharing option (which provide fare-splitting option among co-passengers) in their respective apps in certain regions, to capture the increasing demand for low taxi fare services, among the customers.
To sustain the above growing trend of ridesharing service, local taxi operators have started to adopt the same strategy and trying to incorporate ridesharing option in their respective taxi app development. For instance,
In Vietnam, Mai Linh, one of the major taxi operators in the country, is trying to focus on providing ridesharing services, to overcome the country’s mobility challenges (majorly due to traffic congestion and rising population) by partnering with Kyyti Group in November, 2017, along with the plans to launch ridesharing service in Vietnam in the coming years.
Mai Linh, one of the major taxi operators in the country, is trying to focus on providing ridesharing services, to overcome the country’s mobility challenges.
In January 2019, a new company called Ridealto was established that offers ride-sharing services on a subscription basis. The company has its own fleet of SUVs and drivers.
Asia Pacific – Leading the Taxi Market
The demand for taxi service in the Asia-Pacific region has been increasing rapidly owing to the rapid adoption rate of ride-sharing service among customers in countries like Vietnam, India, China, and Singapore. Thus, to capture the growing taxi market in the countries, foreign players, like Ola, Uber, and Didi Chuxing are launching and expanding their existing services in the market. For instance, on 25th June 2018, Didi Chuxing launched its services in Melbourne and India’s Ola also entered the Australian market by the end of 2018.
Although the demand for Taxi in the Asia-Pacific region has been increasing over the last three years, the government norms on the taxi industry have also been stringent, especially in countries such as Australia, Vietnam, etc.
In Vietnam, after the implementation of pilot program Decision No. 24/QD-BGTVT, in January 2016, by Ministry of Transport (MoT), the number of taxis operated by seven operators (majorly by Uber and Grab), through app increased to ~78,000 cars in 2017. In 2018, the Department of Transportation in Vietnam decided to stop licensing operators under a pilot program, as the app-based taxis have been putting pressure on local traffic infrastructure and creating unhealthy competition with the traditional taxi and transportation firms.
In 2018, the Australian government announced a levy of AUD 1 on taxi services, which may impact customers with 7-12% rise in the taxi fares.
In recent years, new and innovative technologies, and business models have appeared in many countries and cities across the world, through smartphone apps. These involve booking and payments systems, and ridesharing services, using private vehicles for passenger transport.
These technological platforms provide an extension for the on-demand transport market in the region. For instance, ‘sharing economy’ platforms make it easier for customers to negotiate and engage directly with service providers. Consumers are also provided with a higher level of information and opportunity for price comparison in advance. All the above factors have contributed to the growth in Asia-Pacific’s taxi market.
Competitive Landscape
Some of the major players in the global taxi market include Uber, Grab, Lyft, Ola, etc. Among them, Uber main strategy to expand its business is to focus on upcoming technologies, like automated driving vehicles. In 2018, the Toyota Motor Corporation announced to invest USD 500 million in Uber technologies, to develop self-driving cars and aims to deploy them in Uber ride-sharing network, by 2021.
By Mordor Intelligence LLP @ Report Linker