How to Start a Taxi Company in Kazakhstan?

Hello! Many things in this world that look complicated at first glance are not really that complicated once you break them down brick by brick and then look at each brick separately.

Many entrepreneurs who want to start their own business have a lot of questions spinning in their heads, and some of them are not exactly simple…

• How do you open a taxi company?
• What do you need for it?
• Is it worth doing at all?

As you already know, a taxi service is a particular kind of business: it is all about transporting passengers. To run it, you need some system for receiving orders and distributing them among drivers, and, of course, orders will be taken by specially trained dispatchers at a dispatch center. Customers will be served by drivers with cars who receive orders from that dispatch center.

So where do you start this interesting taxi business?

Have you already thought about what you need or how best to get started in this field? If not, we will point you in the right direction.

Of course, this business has been around for many years, but everything changes over time, and taxi services are no exception. Technological progress never stands still: people keep inventing something new and more convenient. Cloud-based technical solutions have made the work of drivers, dispatchers and other company staff, such as accountants, many times easier. Many people have started their own companies by becoming Yandex Go or inDrive partners, but in a small town this may not make much sense. The most effective way to launch this business is the traditional model combined with modern software: it works in a small town, and in a big city it will not cause you any problems either.

Taxi Business in a Nutshell

Before launching the business, we recommend doing a little research in your city. First, learn more about what a taxi service is and how exactly it works, look at the market size in your region (in Kazakhstan the taxi market is estimated at hundreds of billions of tenge, with more than 500 thousand drivers and millions of rides every year), estimate the approximate investment, and think carefully about whether you need investors or can manage with your own funds. If you know nothing about taxis, it would be a good idea to work as a taxi driver yourself beforehand: this will give you a general understanding of the business and its operating model.

How to Register the Business?

What do you need to register successfully and stay on the right side of the law?

In Kazakhstan, since 2025 the taxi market has been heavily regulated: all carriers must register, drivers must work officially (often as sole proprietors), and aggregators such as Yandex Go and inDrive are required to pass orders only to registered drivers. Right-hand-drive cars are banned from taxi service.

The paperwork you will need:

• Registration as a sole proprietor (IE) or a limited liability partnership (LLP) (via eGov.kz)
• Notification to the local akimat about starting operations as a taxi carrier
• Entry in the register of taxi carriers
• Vehicle documents (technical inspection, passenger insurance)
• Personal documents of the drivers and founders

What is a permit/registration and how do you get it?

Since 2025, registration in the taxi register via the eGov portal or the akimat has been mandatory. It applies nationwide, but with regional specifics. If you work through aggregators, they check that you are registered. Remember that police officers or passengers may ask to see this registration, and you must present it on first request.

Payback Period of a Taxi Business

The approximate payback period for this business is about six months to a year, depending on the city and the competition (in Almaty and Astana demand is higher, but so is competition from Yandex Go, inDrive and DiDi).

How to Choose Taxi Dispatch Software?

Oddly enough, choosing excellent dispatch software is one of the most important parts of building a well-structured and profitable business. Naturally, the software should be simple and easy to use day to day, convenient for both dispatchers and management, and it should run on any hardware without lags or crashes. Cloud solutions make the work much easier, especially under the new 2025 regulations.

If you want to choose the right software, we recommend doing a few things before settling on a specific product.

• Look at software vendors and assess what they offer and at what price
• Think carefully and write down exactly which features you want in the software
• Request a demo version of the product and test it for a while

Pay attention to how the company's staff treat you and whether the company has technical support to resolve problems quickly.

Also, don't forget to consider a few other parameters when buying software

• Are there specific requirements for computer hardware, and will you need to replace or buy anything
• Is the software easy to set up, and will they do the basic setup for you on purchase
• How simple is the dispatcher interface, and will you need to train dispatchers for a long time
• Does the software scale easily to a larger fleet, and will your organization run into problems as it grows
• Is there after-sales service, such as a support team, software updates and consultations
• Do you have to pay for service after buying the software
• Are there related services, such as telephony integration, SMS notifications, etc.
• Are there reviews from previous customers of the software

What Equipment Do You Need to Buy for a Taxi Dispatch Center?

Buying equipment is one of the most important steps, so choose software that is not demanding on hardware and its capacity. A taxi service needs inexpensive and reliable equipment that will not let you down during peak load on holidays or on important days for your city.

You will need:

• PCs and headsets for operators
• A communication system with drivers (mobile apps are preferable to two-way radios)

Many taxi services used to rely on two-way radios, but they fall short of newer means of communication such as mobile apps in many ways. Radios have a number of drawbacks: noise in the cabin, the possibility of signal interception, high cost, and the need for amplifiers and call recording. With a cloud solution you can do without all of this, which is an important argument in the early stages of building a taxi service, as it helps you save a lot of money.

Cloud software is not demanding on computers or other equipment. Such solutions have no operating system requirements; for example, you can use free Linux in your dispatch center. All you need to work is:

A computer with any OS and the Google Chrome browser

A headset (if telephony is connected)

Internet access

For dispatchers you can buy the most basic office PCs; this will not affect the speed or quality of their work in any way. You do not need a whole server or other expensive equipment.

For internal telephony you will need appropriate equipment, but if your provider offers SIP, an internet connection is enough (at least 1 Mbps per operator).

How to Attract Drivers to Your Taxi Service?

Advertising, generally speaking, is one of the engines of progress. There are several channels you can use to attract drivers, and not just any drivers, but true professionals who will take your service to a new level and whom your customers will like.

First, to find new drivers, try one of the most effective methods: visual advertising. For example, street banners, billboards, posters and business cards. But don't overdo it, because people quickly get used to visual advertising and stop noticing it. If this channel delivers good results, try changing your ads from time to time.

Don't forget about online advertising, but keep your target audience in mind. Another good old advertising option is word of mouth. Oddly enough, this option gives the most stable results: sometimes, after a while, the first two methods become less effective while eating up the lion's share of your budget.

How do you attract a professional? More than one manager has asked this question. Such a person will come to work for you in only one case: if they have built up a lot of frustration and no longer like the company they currently work for.

To attract as many such drivers as possible, you need to reward them constantly and offer so-called perks. At first, it is advisable to pay drivers extra for cheap orders and give them more expensive orders or ones with more convenient routes. Otherwise, they will simply leave for another company or for aggregators such as Yandex Go or inDrive. Automation will also help you deal with these problems: distributing bonuses and rewards, building ratings, etc. All of this happens automatically and saves you time and nerves.

Attracting Drivers to Your Taxi Service

All your driver needs to work is a phone or tablet with the app installed and an internet connection. The system calculates the fare itself and shows the driver the optimal route.

The system of rewards and penalties in the software is very flexible, which greatly simplifies the work of taxi services. There is also a driver rating system.

The driver rating system is based on drivers earning rating points for certain orders and losing them for rejected or missed orders. The higher a driver's rating, the more privileges they have; for example, the driver will see orders a few minutes earlier than the others. This helps you control driver behavior to some extent and lets those who work better choose more expensive and convenient orders.

Through the system of rewards and penalties you can either reward a driver or penalize them.

For example, if a driver takes a cheap order or drives on a bad road, you can raise the driver's rating or reward them with a certain amount of money. And if a driver does not accept orders or stays on shift for too long, you can penalize them: remove them from all taxi stands, deduct money from the driver's account, or close their shift.

The software allows drivers to top up their accounts through payment systems or a bank, which is very convenient because the driver does not have to go to the office every time to hand in the money for the shift.

How to Attract a Customer and Then Keep Them?

Competition in the taxi world is very high: even the smallest towns often have several taxi services fighting fiercely for every customer, especially against aggregators such as Yandex Go, inDrive and DiDi.

The customer must be satisfied with your service, otherwise they will simply switch to another carrier or app. Try making every 11th ride free for the customer or giving them a bonus for a certain number of rides, so the customer can accumulate these bonuses and then use them to pay for part or all of a ride.

One of the important steps in attracting customers is a referral system: every customer who brings a friend to your taxi service receives bonuses to their account. This keeps the customer happy and brings you new customers without any spending on advertising your taxi service.

Also, don't forget about the customer acquisition system: a bonus program lets your customers accumulate a certain amount from their rides in a bonus account and then use that money for future rides.

The referral program lets a customer bring a friend to the taxi service, and if the friend places an order, the person who referred them immediately receives bonuses to their account. They can easily use these bonuses on their next rides, and this system helps you attract your customers' friends.

The loyalty program lets you create specific rules under which your customers get a discount; for example, after a person has made 10 orders, they can take the 11th for free. Or after 10 orders they get a 5% discount; you can also set up other options to retain customers in Kazakhstan's competitive environment.