In many regional cities across Latin America, the university is one of the biggest trip generators there is. Thousands of students arrive every semester from other towns, live in rented rooms far from campus, don't own a car and move around at hours when public transport has stopped running. Yet many app-based taxi fleets see them as a difficult audience: they pay little, book short trips and disappear during holidays.
The thesis of this article is that university students aren't a low-value audience but a segment with a predictable calendar and a loyalty that can last years, as long as the fleet understands how they move. We'll look at what makes this segment different, how to read its calendar, what they expect from night-time safety, how to look after price without giving away margin, how to reach them and what to do in the months when the campus empties.
Why students are a segment of their own
University students combine three traits few segments share. First, they depend on transport: they don't have a car, and public transport usually covers the routes between rented-room neighbourhoods, the campus and nightlife areas poorly. Second, they use the phone for everything: they have no barrier to booking a trip by app and in fact prefer it to calling dispatch. Third, they live in networks: what one student recommends in their course group reaches hundreds of classmates in an afternoon.
In exchange, the segment has clear limits: a tight budget, high price sensitivity and trips that are concentrated at specific times and days. A fleet that serves them with the same logic as an executive passenger loses them on price; one that serves them only with discounts loses money. The middle ground lies in understanding when, how and why they move.
The academic calendar rules
Few kinds of demand are as predictable as student demand. The academic year sets the peaks and troughs months in advance, and a fleet that has it on its calendar can prepare drivers, shifts and communication in good time. These are the moments that usually move the most trips:
- The first week of the semester, with moves and students who don't know the city yet.
- Weekday mornings, especially for the first class of the day.
- Thursday and Friday nights, with outings and parties.
- Exam weeks, with late returns from the library.
- Long weekends, with trips to the bus station.
- The end of the semester, with move-outs and trips with luggage.
Getting the official calendar of the universities in your city is usually as simple as visiting their websites. With those dates you can tell when to reinforce the fleet and when there's no need, and avoid the surprise of a start-of-term week with few drivers online.
Night-time safety: what weighs the most
For many students, and especially female students, an app-based taxi isn't a luxury but a safety measure: it's how they get home at midnight without walking dark streets or waiting at an empty stop. That's why trust weighs as much as price. A student who feels safe with your service recommends it to their friends; one who had a bad experience tells their course group that same night.
The practices that build the most trust are well known: drivers with checked documents and good ratings on night shifts, the habit of waiting until the passenger is inside before driving off, and respectful treatment without inappropriate comments. All of that depends more on how drivers are selected and briefed than on any technology, and it's worth reminding those who work near university areas explicitly.
It also helps if the pickup point is clear. Campuses have several gates, car parks and buildings with names the driver doesn't always know, and a student waiting at night at the wrong gate is exactly the situation to avoid. Many fleets agree two or three fixed pickup points on each campus with their drivers, well lit and easy to identify, and share them with students so they know where to wait.
At first we didn't pay attention to students because the trips were short. Then we realised the university girls used us to get home at night and recommended us to each other. We started assigning our best-rated drivers at those hours and asking them to wait until the passenger was inside. Within a semester they became some of our most consistent customers.
Looking after price without giving away margin
Students compare prices carefully and know exactly what the bus, the shared van or the competing alternative costs. Lowering the fare on every trip in the segment rarely works: it cuts drivers' income and doesn't guarantee loyalty. What works better are measures that lower the cost per person without lowering the trip price, such as several classmates sharing one taxi from campus to the same neighbourhood, something many students already do on their own and which the fleet can encourage with a good attitude.
If the fleet wants to offer an incentive, it's best kept limited and measurable: a welcome code at the start of the semester, a promotion for the first week of classes or a benefit for anyone who invites a classmate. What matters is that it has a start and end date, and that you can see afterwards how many trips it brought. A permanent discount becomes the normal price and stops attracting anyone.
How to reach students
Traditional advertising works poorly with this audience; recommendations work very well. The channels that respond best are usually the ones students already use: each course's WhatsApp groups, the university community's notice pages, student associations and local businesses such as stationers, cafés and boarding houses. A simple agreement with a boarding house or a student society can bring more trips than any paid advert.
The message matters too. Students care about three things: that the trip is safe, that the price is clear before getting in and that the car reaches the campus gate quickly. Talking about those three things, in a friendly tone and without exaggerated promises, works better than any generic slogan.
It's also worth looking after the first experience. A student who tries the service on a classmate's recommendation decides on that first trip whether to use it again: if the car arrives quickly, the price matches what they expected and the driver is friendly, they go on to recommend it themselves. That's why the first weeks of the semester are the time to assign your best drivers near campus, even if the average trip is short.
What to do when the campus empties
The big risk of the student segment is depending on it too much. During summer or winter holidays, a large share of students return to their hometowns and trips near campus drop sharply. A fleet that concentrated many drivers in that area ends up with idle cars and frustrated drivers.
The solution is to plan the low season as far ahead as the high season: warn drivers in good time that campus demand will drop, shift them towards other areas or shifts with more activity, and use the period to win other segments. And as the new semester approaches, prepare the fleet again to welcome a new intake who don't yet know any service in the city.
A generation that can stay for years
A student who arrives in the city in their first semester may use the same taxi service for four or five years, and many stay on to live and work in the city after graduating. Winning them in their first week, when they don't know anything yet, means winning a customer with years ahead and a network of friends who follow them.
If your city has a university and you've never treated it as a segment, start with the simplest steps: get the academic calendar, check which drivers work nights near campus and find a first ally in the student community. With those three things, the next start of term could be the busiest week of the year.
