In recent years, ride-booking app Uber has seldom been out of the headlines. In London and elsewhere, outraged cabbies have taken to the streets to protest what they see as an unregulated and improperly licensed competitor operating on their turf. But in this world where digital technologies are having a profound impact on our daily lives and challenging age-old traditional ways of doing things, Uber is far from the only threat to black cab firms.
Gett Taxi – an emerging threat?
You may not have heard of Gett Taxi yet but there’s a good chance you will before long. Gett started in Israel back in 2010, and since then it has expanded to more than a dozen cities in its home country, and to international cities like London, New York and Moscow. In London alone it counts 6,000 black cab drivers on its roster of freelance drivers, with an additional 2,000 located in Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow and Edinburgh.
Gett works on a similar principle to Uber. Passengers can book a taxi to pick them up from wherever they are, using either the Gett Taxi mobile phone app or the company’s website. The taxi will then arrive at their location and drive them to their desired destination. The major difference between Gett and Uber though is that while Uber’s drivers are often not from a taxi-driving background and have only private hire licences, Gett’s drivers are freelance black cab drivers with hackney carriage licenses.
The latter form of taxi licence allows a driver to pick up a passenger from the street or from a rank, while a private hire license only allows pickups that have been pre-booked and which have a fixed fare.
The fact that black cab drivers are on board with Gett makes it significantly different to Uber, and is unlikely to attract the same hostility. However, for large black cab firms with lots of drivers it may be an unwelcome source of competition.
Fighting talk
According to the Edinburgh News, Gett’s boss for Scotland and northern England Chris Elsheikhi recently claimed that his firm was ‘obliterating’ traditional black cab firms in Edinburgh. He also suggested that competition for cabs in the Scottish capital was becoming a two horse race between Gett and Uber.
“We’re not just getting business from people who would have hailed a cab on the street – we’re also getting people who would have rung one of the cab firms previously,” he told the paper
“We’re signing up new drivers all the time. Technology is having an impact on the industry and moving towards obliterating the way people have traditionally booked a taxi.”
The comments have angered many of the traditional taxi firms in the city, with some resenting the further intrusion into Edinburgh’s cab trade by a business with no links to the city.
Elsheikhi went on to predict that 70% of black cab drivers in the city would be driving for Gett within a year.
It seems it’s not just taxi firms that should be worried about the expansion of Gett though, as the service is also planning on launching additional services via its app, including take away food delivery and delivery for dry cleaning. Uber is also moving into these areas and others, and launched UberEATS in New York last month, which promises to deliver your takeaway in ten minutes or less.
The rise of the smartphone app is certainly giving cab drivers and others a run for their money at the moment, and perhaps it is those who can adjust to this new era who will continue to prosper.
If you need any advice on your taxi insurance or would like a quote, get in touch with Park Insurance.