Want to build a Lyft clone app for your e scooter sharing business or to start a new e scooter sharing business? Here are the quick solutions and major feature considerations for your own e scooter sharing business.

Lyft, a ride-sharing company, has spread its wings and unveiled its first-ever scooter app in Denver. The company has ventured into the dockless scooter and bike-sharing business, facilitating quick and easy travel within the city. With over 250 scooters under its control and all set to add 100 more, Lyft is definitely planning ahead.

At the Techcrunch Disrupt in San Francisco, Uber announced a multi-modal for the end-users to access their bike-sharing as well as car-hailing facilities. With this new application, it will be easier for users to access any transportation mode with a single app. Earlier, Uber joined hands with JUMP to allow people to book the bikes using the Uber app. In July, after funding LIME bikes, Uber has added their bikes to the application as well, allowing users to book these bikes.

Uber and Lyft are not the only companies competing in this segment. Some of the other companies include Scoot and eCooltra. You also have Bird, which is offering something similar to the end-users.

The Denver Public Works had recently issued permits to carry out the dockless bike-sharing business within the vicinity to Lime, Bird, Lyft, Spin, and Razor.

How to Make an e scooter App Like Lyft, Develop Alternative app of Lyft, Lyft alternative app features to consider

Benefits of Electric Scooter Apps

Why is the market for eScooter apps growing? and why are there so many players within this segment? The many benefits associated with these apps might help answer this question.

1. A very cost-effective solution:

Traveling in a car for short distances can eat into your fuel expenses and can become quite an expensive solution. For commuters who want to reach their destination on time, and don’t wish to rely on public transportation, this is a cost-effective and highly efficient solution. You are independent, and you don’t spend a lot of money on hiring the scooter.

2. Highly sustainable:

When it comes to being environmentally sound and sustainable, the eScooter market wins hands down. You will see that it does not require fuel, and is pretty environment-friendly. By riding the electric scooters, you are actually working towards saving the environment around you.

3. High revenue generation:

From the business model perspective, this is a high revenue generation model, with minimal expenses. The profits that businesses earn as a result are high. The eScooters need to be charged on a regular basis. A single charge allows you to ride a few kilometers and is best suited for within the city travel. The cost to charge and acquire eScooter is much less as compared to the revenue generated from its hire.

If you are wondering how much you can make from running an eScooter rental business, here is the calculation showing money you can make from the fleet of 1000 eScooters.

How much money you can make from the e-scooter rental business? -Updated on 23rd July 2019

In the e-scooter rental business, profit is generally calculated based on the per ride and per e-scooter. If the revenue you generate per e-scooter is $3, and the operational cost per e-scooter is $2, you can make up to $1 per e-scooter and per ride. 

Data of all e-scooter rental companies exhibiting that in all major urban cities, an e-scooter is utilized for 5 to 7 times in a day. So, if we follow the same numbers, the per escooter profit of your escooter rental business is $5 to $7 in a single day. That means, if you are having 1000 escooter in your fleet, the profit you can earn in a day is roughly around $5000 t $7000. 

To understand it more rationally, read our Economics of Escooter Rental Business blog which contains all important finance-related information you need to know before going for e-scooter app development.   

4. Accessibility:

With electric scooters, the entire city is accessible, and you won’t need to bother about the traffic and the congestion that comes with peak hours. You can easily ride into the narrow lanes, and reach your destination safely, at the time allotted.

These bikes and electric scooters are available through the day, all seven days in the week. You can easily time your ride, and also book it for a specific period of time. Just like the other ride-sharing facilities, you will be charged for the ride time as well as the halt time, within your journey.

The parking for these bikes are pre-allotted and you will need to park them in the defined service area. If you do not park it within the specified area, you might end up paying a certain fine.

Now that you know the benefits of having an electric scooter app, let’s identify the key things to consider and the features that you ought to have when creating your own app. We will also help you define certain solutions that will help you with the development of the escooter app for your business.

Things to Consider Before Developing the App

Identify the right opportunities:

Lyft identified the Denver market to be perfect for developing the escooter business and spreading its wings. If you are planning a similar app, you might want to learn about the zones that offer you the right opportunity and the gaps that exist. You should ideally study the market in detail, and understand the available opportunities. When you learn about what you can build in the market, you would be able to strategize accordingly.

Know the features:

It is important for you to integrate the features that are highly recognized and considered important by your target audience when developing the application. For instance, the dockless bikes require a feature that will allow you to lock them while in use, if you are taking a halt at some point during your journey.

It is important so that no one else takes away your bike, while you have the booking in your name. Similarly, availing the service for the bike should be made easy. Lyft offers a QR code scanning mechanism, which makes availing the bike easy for the riders. You will need to break the app journey into several pieces and parts, and then decide the features accordingly.

Convenience should be taken seriously:

When you are developing a mobile app, it is important that you factor in for convenience. From booking the bike to paying for the bike, everything should be convenient for the last mile user. This will encourage them to use your service and spread a positive word. When you are developing a mobile app, make sure you have included enough factors within the features to offer convenience.

Work closely with the local authority: Updated on 23rd July 2019

Riding a tiny e-scooter is dangerous. In the past few years, different governments have banned many escooter sharing companies and imposed new rules over the concern of the safety of riders and their surrounding. 

Talking specifically about the Lyft, its legal journey is nothing to get excited about. In June 2019, when Lyft found out that the government of San Francisco was violating the 10-year contract that would give Lyft rights to operate a bike-share program, Lyft sued them. This legal dispute cost a million dollar to Lyft. However, recently local authority has granted Lyft a temporary permit to run its dockless electric bike-share program within the city boundary. 

On a lighter note, the whole dispute between the city of San Francisco and Lyft was the result of a very poorly documented operational permit which allowed Lyft to operate only station-based bike-share program and not the dockless bike-share program.

Thus, whenever you are planning to deploy your fleet of e-scooters or e-bikes on the streets of any new city, talk with local authorities and leave no stone unturned to understand their rules and regulations. 

Features you will get in Lyft clone app or Lyft clone script

• Locating the scooters: The app should pave an easy method to locate and hire the scooters. This will increase the convenience and make the whole proposal efficient for them. Akin to hailing a cab, the app should allow the users to locate bikes in the location, and hire them through the application.
• QR Code: Bookings should be made easy for the end users. You can introduce the QR code scanning techniques, which allows the user to scan the code of the dock less bike they are hiring using the smartphone camera, and book the ride for the time period they have specified. There should be a feature that allows for ending the ride or allows the user to halt and lock the ride for a small period of time.
• Tracking made easy: When the users want to end their ride, they have to park it into a dock less parking area, specified by the business. The tracking feature within the app will not only make it easy to locate the location but will also help the users park their vehicles safely.
• In-app payments:Secure payment gateway integration will help the users to pay for the services online. Make sure you integrate as many payment gateways as necessary for the application
• Geofencing: Geofencing can be considered as a security feature. With the Geofencing feature, you as the admin can alert the rider if he is taking your e-scooter outside of your business boundary. Moreover, this very robust feature can notify the rider to ride the e-scooter with extra care when he approaches park, market or school. (Updated on 23rd July 2019)

Summing up

It is highly important that you consider the following three factors before delivering a scooter sharing app for your target market.

1. Commuting should be made easy with the service. The main reason why people prefer the escooters or dock less bikes is to commute to their offices and other places safely.
2. It is important that you consider the traffic and save the bikers from the congestion and help them reach their destination on time.
3. Finally, it is important that you serve them with convenience when it comes to parking or getting the scooter on hire.

If you have an app idea similar to Lyft or want to develop an app for your ride-sharing business, Coruscate will happily partner with you to uplift your technology requirements. Having an in-depth understanding of the ride-sharing market, and the audience within this market, we will help you in e Scooter App Development for ideal opportunities, plan for the future and release a successful application to the market.

Connect with us if you want to take this discussion forward, and help build a highly profitable business.

Note: We do not make clones of any exact application, clone means to us is how better we can execute your app idea with existing app features and experience.