I don’t get it. I recently purchased a '19 Tesla Model 3. And I was going to use it for my daytime job delivering for a local grocery store. But I wanted to use the car for more.
So I started a taxi company with the cheapest fare in town.
Some quick background: My town is relatively small, but not super small. Business is there, that’s a good way to put it.
There are three other competitors in my town running taxis. All of their vehicles, except one, are JUNK. I’m talking doors not closing, belts on the engine squealing louder than your neighbors at night. Just so many things wrong. Yet, they are constantly getting customers, primarily to the grocery store I deliver from.
I charge $5 one way anywhere in town. I offer a clean, respected, well-maintained vehicle with features such as Caraoke, Light shows, etc., FOR $5. And I can’t get a single call. I’ve advertised everywhere: Facebook, businesses (though I could do slightly better at handing out business cards).
I don’t get it. I need someone from a different perspective to tell me what I am doing wrong. I’ll answer any questions. As I’m tired of all my businesses failing. I’ve had a few and thought, well, I love driving. I love talking to people. Why not a taxi? I’m very passionate about this business and just want it to succeed.
Put QR codes on your business cards with your name cab or taxi and your first name. Then people will save your number rather than have to track down your card.
That’s actually how my business cards I just ordered 2 hours ago look like 😂😂. I think they look nice.
I think you might need to consider who your likely prospective customer base is (not just who you want them to be, but who actually is using these services in your town specifically.
I’m a millennial woman, and I would avoid a service advertising karaoke and light shows. I want to sit in a car with a driver who doesn’t talk to me, or who makes very light conversation. I’d take a worse car to get that. I typically take a lyft because I like the convenience of scheduling through an app, but I’ve called a car service when my flight arrived late at night and I just want to get home, in which case the sole deciding factor was “can you be here in 10 minutes?”
There are plenty of people who probably like the idea of what you’re selling, but if those people aren’t in your town looking for rides, then you’ll either have to figure out how to convince people to want what you’re offering, or you’ll have to change what you’re offering.
You’re new, they aren’t. People don’t know you yet, and don’t have that brand recognition yet. A taxi business is a marathon not a sprint.
Maybe you live where people think anybody who drives an electric car is an abortion providing transsexual communist.
I wish I was kidding.
I wish you were too. But sadly that may be what they think. At that point the only thing I have is waiting for the snowball effect. One customer rides and says they loved it and they tell others and the future will speak for itself. But honestly I think it’s down to pricing. But if customers want to believe I’m that person without getting to know me and think that because I drive an electric vehicle I’m what you said. Then I don’t think they are my type of customer. And that’s ok.
If something seems too good to be true, it usually is. Raise your prices to reflect your quality.
Senior center. Township. Churches. All places to give biz cards.
No-one knows you have a better car. No-one cares as much as you do, either; they just remember the name of the last taxi company/person they went with, and do that again. People (for the most part) don’t spend hours ruminating on their taxi experience and how it could have been better.
Are you close to a big city? Sometimes, it’s worth it to hit up the closest big city for the weekend. Granted, that will limit your weekend, “You can count on me to pick you up” locally, but you’ll have enough volume that you could just count on the weekend and whatever Bonus Pickups you get in town during the week are cream on top? I dunno. My two cents…
Get an app. Don’t waste time on anything else. Get the app and then advertise the app. That’s it
Raise your rates. Your price should communicate the value of your service. People compare rates. Yours should be in the middle or top, not the bottom, since you have a nicer car.
I’m late to the party. I was going to say much of the same… raise your rates. Be known as the “best” in town. Don’t worry about your competition they’re in your rear view anyways.
I would bet that your ad isn’t targeting your customer avatar or being displayed in just the geographical area you service or at the right times of day and you will waste money showing your ad to a demographic that is not likely to use your service.
Keep us updated as you go along. I’m rooting for you!
I like this idea but as a woman who has heard creepy stories… it sounds too good to be true. Like, I’d be weirded out and creeped out.
Could you partner up with like, bars or women-owned businesses and advertise yourself as a safe alternative to Ubers and things??
The nicer car is great, but any small scale business with a differentiator that revolves around undercutting everyone on price likely won’t succeed. 1) you’ll never make enough money; 2) you’ll get poor quality customers.
At $5 a trip, to make $100K gross, you need to do 20,000 trips. That’s 55 trips every single day of the year. And then you need to subtract all of your expenses.
It’s not a sustainable model. You’ll burn out.