Let me tell you a story that you’ve most certainly been privy to before.

I need to get to a pier in Sydney – I have a boat to catch. I pick up my phone, I open Uber… Surge! 2.3x.

Nope!

I walk to the top of my street and hail a taxi. I spend the next ten minutes listening to the taxi driver complain about Uber. How it’s ruining his business. So I sat there and took it in, all the arguments and bent rationale that led this man to be bitter about one of the business world’s newest success stories.

I thought back to my time as a luxury experience designer and considered how we differentiated expensive, full service airlines to compete with low cost carriers in hotly contested, crowded markets such as South East Asia. I also thought about the rhetoric around the death of retail that eCommerce was supposed to bring about.

What can the taxi industry learn from retail vs etail and experience design?

I think we can frame the eCommerce vs retail relationship less as a deathnote and more of a reckoning. The mass adoption of eCommerce was judgement day for retailers. The good were judged, the bad were judged and only the good thrived.

The retailers that enhanced the experience elements that online stores couldn’t, prospered. The retailers that chose not to compete for customers on experience elements that they could never win (like price) prospered.

Stores like Colette in Paris and Dover Street Market built cultural capital into their brand through creating great experiences for their customers. Colette’s cafe ‘Water Bar’ and their artist collaborations transform the retail environment into something that eCommerce could never be — a space to enjoy with friends. This drives people to be social inside their space, to spend time, be amazed and create lasting emotional connections to the bricks and mortar of their rue St Honore store.

How does this apply to the taxi industry?

First.

The first thought that comes to mind is standardisation, I’m talking driver training. Uniformity creates predictability and predictability is attractive. If the prediction is good. I know a few girls who would be ecstatic if they could book a cab – Uber style – and count on a driver not to hit on them/stare at them or be down right rude to them. If a taxi company trained drivers in customer service and set service standards then customers would be won through the predictability of a guaranteed pleasant exchange. Manners, clear and calm communication and a strict driving standard would be a great start.

Second.

A standard of excellence with vehicles – clean and green is what I’m thinking here. Number 2 is keep the vehicles clean, waxed, buffed and with attractive liveries. Keep the interior tidy, neat and odour-free. Each driver should be instilled with a sense of pride for their vehicle. No more dash ornaments or wooden bead seat covers. While we’re at it let’s switch all of the vehicles to hybrids. A feat that Uber could never promise. This would win customers looking to cast a green vote in the battle of road transportation. Create some creative messaging around the energy savings per customer journey based on estimated time in the cab. Make the customer feel as if they are giving back to the environment through their choice of transportation.

Third.

App integration, please. It’s time a taxi firm invested in an Uber-esque booking and transparency app for smartphones. Bookings is step one. Perhaps a taxi company can incorporate a rating system like Uber and reward it’s drivers for high ratings. Incentives to maintain a standard of excellence could be a powerful driver – pun intended. Plus let’s plug in suggested routes for the app! No more trying to guess whether your driver is taking you for a ride – pun intended.

Fourth.

Let’s take a look at the customer journey for our 4th point. What do we want when riding? I want to plug and play my own music. Perhaps a system that isolates back from front if the driver wants to switch off. I’d also love to charge my phone, Samsung and iPhone charging capabilities would be a godsend when that battery is at 5%. A bottle of water with a fun message from the taxi company would be a generous addition to the back cabin as well. Mostly I just want to be comfortable, no pungent air fresheners, a settling standard temperature for all taxis and I’d be a happy fella.

Fifth.

The final part of the customer journey should be addressed as well. Payments! Pay through the app – check. Pay cash – check. Pay with contactless card options – check. Make tipping easy. Customer’s like to tip when the service rendered has been exceptional, include a round up, five percent and ten percent tip button in the app, just like in NYC’s Yellow Cabs.

The battle for the road isn’t over. Uber has fast become a heavyweight but a dynamic strategy that focuses on the customer journey could see taxi firm’s market share bolstered.

Win customer’s through their hearts and you’ll thrive Mr Taxi.

I am the co-founder of design firm DREAM. We love thinking about things like this!