No ride-hailing business can manage to survive for long without enough drivers. The good news here is that these are all contract drivers who may not continue with the ride-hailing companies they currently work for. So, if you offers are as good as or better than Uber or Lyft, you can be sure of motivating at least a few of them to join your service fleet.

After scrutinizing how the top ride-sharing services motivate more drivers to join them, we have a few handy tactics that will help you obtain the right driving team to keep your business on the right track.

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Offering Bonuses to Drivers

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As a ride-hailing business, you may not be able to stop contract drivers from leaving you. But, you can always come up with ways to attract new drivers to sign up. The best way to do this would be to offer a sign-up bonus. This will keep the supply flowing and make sure you always have a fleet available to accommodate your customers’ demands.

A referral bonus is a way to acquire new drivers while retaining existing drivers. This provides a way for your existing drivers to earn some extra income while you get new trustworthy drivers to join your team.

A surge bonus is about paying your drivers at a higher rate for working during peak hours. They get to earn more money for the same amount of work that they do. This way you can have more drivers to meet customer demands during peak hours.

A quest bonus will ensure that drivers take up more rides between a given timeframe and complete them successfully.

Car Rental Programs for Drivers Who Don’t Own Vehicles

Buying and maintaining a vehicle is the biggest hurdle that drivers face when it comes to signing up for ride-sharing services. By offering a vehicle solutions program Uber opened up doors for everyone who wanted to drive for the company. Apart from helping drivers lease vehicles, Uber also offers the option to drive for licensed fleets. For those who are interested in owning the cars that they drive, Uber offers discounts and low-interest rates by partnering with major car dealerships and financiers. You can do it too. All that you need to do is make sure your drivers always have access to up-to-date and functioning vehicles. Apart from making your platform more attractive, this strategy will help you enjoy an edge over your competitors.

Exploring Alternative Options

Find out if you can conduct your delivery service through motorcycles and 2-door vehicles. This way you can attract even those drivers who don’t meet the vehicle criteria. Also, see if you can diversify by including food delivery, package delivery, school drop services, etc. as part of your service. This way, if your drivers do not find consistent work with conventional services, you can give them the flexibility of trying other driving services.

Treating Drivers Fairly

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Responsible drivers contribute to customer satisfaction in a big way, especially when it comes to a ride-hailing business. Treating drivers fairly includes finding out what their expectations are and making an effort to meet them if it’s remotely possible. Listening to their grievances and giving them positive responses is a start. Drivers must be given a medium to express their opinions freely. If they feel valued and cared for in terms of work allocation, flexibility, equality, payments, opportunities, clarity, and fairness, loyalty will come naturally to them.

Driver-focused Strategies

Ensuring that drivers don’t compromise on their earnings while you offer attractive prices to your customers is important. As your customer base increases, so should the drivers’ opportunities for earning.

Look for strategies where drivers have convenience and recognition in one package. A good customer rating system should be introduced where a consistent high-rating for a driver must be eligible for a monthly bonus or any other attractive incentives. A flexible riding schedule can be given to drivers who consistently perform well or have crossed their monthly targets consistently. Even offers like free vehicle maintenance for well-performing drivers is not a bad idea to retain experienced drivers and attract drivers from competing companies. Some ride-hailing businesses also provide free meals to drivers to keep them vested in the business.

Being creative and carefully curating the best value-driven offers to attract drivers are ways in which your Uber-like ride-hailing business can stand strong when it comes to keeping the force motivated and driven while attracting more resources to join forces with you.