Eircab Taxi App

[Belker]

There is one point everyone seems to be overlooking

All these new apps,radio companies,coops etc require drivers.
Now if they dont all get their share of drivers,the first thing they will do is start whinging to the NTA to issue more lincences
So by joining them you are cutting your own throats

You have actually contradicted yourself there Dalymount.

[dalymount]

Well you maybe  right. What im saying is everyone of these companies at the moment have a limited pool of drivers who may sign up with them. Now this means the more apps,radio companies,co_ops that come industry,the less drivers there will be to compete for.so the liklehood,is they will go running to the NTA to increase the number of taxi licences issued so they can all have tgeir fair share of drivers.its probably the reason they are currently advertising for 1600 new deivers due. To pressure being put on them by the dispatchers,and of cours joe heron pointing out to them we need more drivers.

[Korky]

PRESS RELEASES.

BMW and Daimler are joining forces to offer customers a single source for “sustainable urban mobility services” to fight off competition like Uber, Lyft and Waymo in what is now a bloated and competitive market.
 
The two companies this week signed an agreement to merge their mobility services business units. Subject to examination and approval by the responsible competition authorities, BMW and Daimler plan to combine and strategically expand their existing on-demand mobility offering in the areas of CarSharing, Ride-Hailing, Parking, Charging and Multimodality.
 
Each company will hold a 50-percent stake in a joint-venture model comprising both companies’ mobility services. The two companies will remain competitors in their respective core businesses.

The aim is to become a leading provider of innovative mobility services with ride-hailing one of the big focuses. Between the two companies they current offer several ride-hailing apps; mytaxi, Chauffeur Privé, Clever Taxi and Beat.
 
In total, 13 million customers and some 140,000 drivers are already using the modern, practical and fast way of Ride-Hailing with mytaxi, Clever Taxi and Beat or private hire vehicle service Chauffeur Privé.
 
“The future of mobility lies in cities: The key to more liveable cities is in intelligent and seamless services that are easy to use and combine sustainable modes of transport and mobility services,” said Peter Schwarzenbauer, member of the Board of Management of BMW AG, responsible for MINI, Rolls-Royce, BMW Motorrad, Customer Engagement and Digital Business Innovation BMW Group.
 
“The pioneering work and commitment of the employees who provide our services have laid a valuable foundation. I would like to thank them very much indeed for all that they have done,” Schwarzenbauer continued.”

[Rat Catcher]

It's a good point, DM. I guess we have to consider why they experience a shortage of drivers now that they all allow drivers charge full fare. Why don't drivers want to cover the work, etc... In an ideal world drivers' representatives on TAC would protect drivers' interests but, as we have seen, they are complicit in NTAs recruitment drive.

[Belker]

All these new apps,radio companies,coops etc require drivers.

Now if they dont all get their share of drivers,the first thing they will do is start whinging to the NTA to issue more lincences
So should we sign up to stop them asking the NTA fer more licences ?

So by joining them you are cutting your own throats
So should we Not sign up ?

Which is it Dalymount ?

[Belker]

PRESS RELEASES.

BMW and Daimler are joining forces to offer customers a single source for “sustainable urban mobility services” to fight off competition like Uber, Lyft and Waymo in what is now a bloated and competitive market.
 
The two companies this week signed an agreement to merge their mobility services business units. Subject to examination and approval by the responsible competition authorities, BMW and Daimler plan to combine and strategically expand their existing on-demand mobility offering in the areas of CarSharing, Ride-Hailing, Parking, Charging and Multimodality.
 
Each company will hold a 50-percent stake in a joint-venture model comprising both companies’ mobility services. The two companies will remain competitors in their respective core businesses.

The aim is to become a leading provider of innovative mobility services with ride-hailing one of the big focuses. Between the two companies they current offer several ride-hailing apps; mytaxi, Chauffeur Privé, Clever Taxi and Beat.
 
In total, 13 million customers and some 140,000 drivers are already using the modern, practical and fast way of Ride-Hailing with mytaxi, Clever Taxi and Beat or private hire vehicle service Chauffeur Privé.
 
“The future of mobility lies in cities: The key to more liveable cities is in intelligent and seamless services that are easy to use and combine sustainable modes of transport and mobility services,” said Peter Schwarzenbauer, member of the Board of Management of BMW AG, responsible for MINI, Rolls-Royce, BMW Motorrad, Customer Engagement and Digital Business Innovation BMW Group.
 
“The pioneering work and commitment of the employees who provide our services have laid a valuable foundation. I would like to thank them very much indeed for all that they have done,” Schwarzenbauer continued.”

I reckon that post was worthy of it's own section Korky.

[dalymount]

Belker
There is no contradicition.my views are well known to you.say for instance there is 10 thousand taxi drivers in Ireland.lets say we were aligned in the following way.the 4 biggest companies cannot cover their work, so they conclude the only way to deal with it is, to go whinging to the NTA to issue more licences.my arguement is, that the NTA are now in a position to make that determination that more taxis are needed simply because the situation is being monitored, and reported on by the radio companies,ably assisted by a certain driver representitive
Now in addition to that,when you sign up with a radio company,you are giving up your right to work to your own termsand conditions.you might as well be back in the PAYE sector I have spoken to a few northern drivers, who woyld give anything to have the freedom we enjoy in the south,and they just cant understand why we would want to give that away.at the moment there is no legal requirement on us to align with anyone,but our drivers are trying hard to change a that as far as I can see 

[Belker]

Working MyTaxi is nothing like PAYE work, their terms and conditions which are not rigurousely inforced are a clean Joe, presentable clothing and No acting de maggot on fares, they are hardly setting the bar too high !

With the PUC reinstated any job under 16.50 you make a few cent on the PUC before you pay the 12% commission,
any job over 16.50 you lose a few cent.

[Korky]

Any driver can sign up to mytaxi and never do a job for them.
In my opinion licences are not an issue, the new wheelie standards are not prohibitive, in fact as they have no 9 year rule they are better value than any saloon.
It’s understandable that as taxi drivers we want to be busy and therefore do not want to see a multitude of new drivers dilute the work down to a trickle again, on the other hand we are an aging group with very few young people applying for licenses. I think politicians and Nta management have learned from the errors of the past when making it a free for all. The two biggest obstacles currently are the difficulty of the test and insurance costs, I’d imagine the Nta will gradually add easier questions to the test in order to achieve a higher pass rate, the insurance however is a different ball game

[dalymount]

Belker
You need to read my post again I never mensioned mytaxi, or any other app in that particular post.
My problem is spacificly with radio companies wwho seem to think they are the drivers employers.
Although I dont believe the industry needs ANYdispatchers,I have a lot less problem with apps aa I have said in other posts

[U Wha]

DM

You are preaching to the converted about not working with dispatchers and apps. I started in this game as a hackney base controller back in the 90's, managed a taxi office and was involved in a co-op.

Today I work off ranks and the streets and rarely do any app work and only if it is beside me and worth doing. I have a huge problem with the 'FACT' that the apps will completely control this business in the future and most drivers can't see that because its all about commission or bonuses, living in the moment, which can happen due to the nature of the business.

In an ideal world taxis would be left to do what taxis are meant to do, work the streets and ranks, but that isn't going to happen, too much at stake for other parties. 

So because other parties aren't going to leave the market I was advocating a co-op owned and controlled by drivers that dominates the market . That is how drivers can win, if you can't beat them join them as competitors and crush them!

as an aside,
App and Dispatch work is private hire or pre-book technically the domain of hackneys, Taxis use to take hackney work this way not the other way around, but since most hackneys drivers migrated to taxis it doesn't really matter anymore. Most of them probably moved to taxi licences because it allowed them to use bus lanes, and more than likely still do most of their work via dispatchers/Apps because they feel comfortable working that way. But the point I am making is that app or dispatch work may be considered additional to the traditional work on the street and ranks.

Taxi drivers don't have to take dispatch or app work , but if you don't take it you restrict yourself from a lot of work and with the progress of the apps there will be less and less traditional street and rank work and more work from apps. What does a taxi driver do? Put up with it and live for today? Get a hackney plate? Do something about it?

[U Wha]

You forgot advertising/marketing costs John M.

To quote Bill Gates; "If I only had $5 left in the world,
then I would spend it on marketing".

Fixed costs only .Advertising wages promotions would be discretionary spending .First you need to identify how much it costs to just engage the system .As I said how many jobs to break even .Then drivers will know based on the amount of drivers signing up how many jobs they would each have to commit to in order to make the idea viable or how little work might be available if the amount of drivers are oversubscribed .By having a realistic operational figure you can then decide if you need to limit the initial intake of drivers with a waiting list that will allow drivers join in  pro rata .Will there be a committment from drivers to cover all job offers as they are owner operaters .Co Op are a bit like communism where they are run for the Common Good as long as the other fells does more than you do but you get the same reward .Metaxi have this Game sewn up due to the tens of Millions drivers contributed to establishing it .FLAG have the fairest system but have no funds to attract drivers or passengers .I would suggest a 4 Million Euro budget would be needed just to have a chance not withstanding any retalliation from Metaxi .If I was to advise a driver on the most effective option I would suggest become a Mytaxi Ambassador ,they have the work simple as .

I don't think waiting lists are a good idea, in my experience drivers can be offended by that. What ever operation you start it should be able to manage any amount of drivers. As for a lack of work in this scenario, members on joining will be told other than the once off admin fee it will cost them nothing until they work. Drivers that do more will benefit by paying less commission as they move on a volume based scale. The ownership and shareholding are completely separate to the work.

I have spoken to a few Irish App development companies and they appear to speak the same language with regard to costs.

Wireframe to MPV (Minimum Viable Product) for 2 apps (Customer and Driver) on Android and Apple with Back End Admin functions and data storage would cost approx €15,000 to come up with a basic functional prototype.

This could rise to €50,000 in time as you add functionality and a maintenance contract can be negotiated or additional ad-hoc hours may be facilitated at an agreed hourly rate.

The biggest cost will be promotion and marketing. Although you would expect the members to be the best promoters and marketers with passengers in-car, handout literature and talk about the app and when all apps are busy cover the co-op work first. That would reduce the marketing to seasonal campaigns and no need for driver incentives as they own the app. Done right it would put other apps under pressure to spend more.

 So what is on offer here .You dont own the app you dont have any passengers and you want 100 euro administration fee from drivers who will then pay commission on any work they do I suggested you do a simple cost base annalyses of the structure of your pricing so you could actually offer a break even point which would then offer drivers the opportunity to identify at what point their investment might yield a dividend but you never responded .So the offer is. I can download your app for a ton with no guarentee of work or I can download the Mytaxi app for free and they have loads of work or download the UBER app for free and they have some work or I can download Cab app for free they might have a job a month or download FLAG for free who lets wait and see .Or pay a ton for this app .I think you need to go back to the drawing board Nobody is going to give you a ton for absolutely nothing .

For the €100 you get nothing but membership of a co-op. There is no app to download yet, there is no work yet (plenty there at the moment with other apps but that is today no guarantee for tomorrow) and no in-depth analysis. Members are buying into a concept that will work to protect their future by competing against the market leaders. If it doesn't work out €80 will held in escrow by a reputable firm and returned to members. €20 will be retained to cover set up costs, registration, printing , meetings etc. The co-op is about having a say in our industry and protecting tomorrow.

What I am suggesting is that the founding members get together to form the co-op, decide what needs to be done to launch the co-op/app. Eg: Basic legal structure that guarantees a democratic and transparent organisation, cost from a App developer, projected Marketing and Promotion costs and associated Admin costs.

All of your comments are valid and may be implemented but not until the co-op has been set up! You are having a laugh if you are suggesting that I should do all you have suggested and then have other members (as they will be entitled to) rubbish the recommendations/research/suggestions in favour of something else as elude to by Bubba.

"I was a member of both VIP and Sixes Co-Ops. Served on both comittees. The inbred fuck gene cannot be controlled. Disagreements on policy /direction are never seen/understood as being part of development but rather as a personal insult/attack on the person with the opposing view.  Even when the lowest / worst case scenario is presented (i.e. this is a possible outcome, can we live with it ) ,many will ignore the scenario in favour of the more likeable scenario that presents halfway through the discussion and then blame the "know it all mouth" when the worst case scenario shows up.
If the membership agree to operate from a "this is going to be total failure" mindset and elect the right intelligencia to run it, they`ll be on a winner. The officers and members HAVE to agree to disagree and protect the weakest link in the project. It`s all about truth."

I will only work on processes and policies that will be agreed by the Inaugural Board.

[Rat Catcher]

Belker
You need to read my post again I never mensioned mytaxi, or any other app in that particular post.
My problem is spacificly with radio companies wwho seem to think they are the drivers employers.
Although I dont believe the industry needs ANYdispatchers,I have a lot less problem with apps aa I have said in other posts

The dominant app, mytaxi, is a lot more expensive than fixed freight firms as far as full time drivers are concerned. At peak times freight can exceed €8/hour with the current average exceeding €3/hour. One would expect the so-called drivers' representatives on TAC to understand how those figures contribute to the firm's inability to cover peak time work in opposing the firm's demands for NTA to licence more drivers. They should, of course, also understand how apps decrease efficiency in covering work at peak times with drivers passing street hails to earn priority, gold stars, bonus payments or whatever. However, as we have seen the so-called drivers' representatives are firmly aligned with dispatch firms on this issue.

[U Wha]

Belker
You need to read my post again I never mensioned mytaxi, or any other app in that particular post.
My problem is spacificly with radio companies wwho seem to think they are the drivers employers.
Although I dont believe the industry needs ANYdispatchers,I have a lot less problem with apps aa I have said in other posts

eh...

more bleeding unnessesary middle men coming into the industry NONE OF YA ARE NEEDED . RADIO COMPANYS, APPS, CO,OPS, ETC ETC will you all please fuck off and leave the drivers to remain independent, and not answerable to anyone PLEASE

[U Wha]

What is the difference between a taxi and a hackney?

Taxi: a small public service vehicle (SPSV), for which a taxi licence has been granted. Taxis may stand for hire at a taxi rank and ply for hire on the street.

Hackney: a private hire small public service vehicle (SPSV) for which a hackney licence has been granted. Hackney cabs should be pre-booked on a private hire basis and cannot be hailed down in a public place.

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/travel_and_recreation/public_transport/regulation_of_taxis_and_small_public_service_vehicles.html

Taxi drivers remaining independent would suggest that they only do street or rank work. I agree but unfortunately that pot of work is getting smaller and smaller. The apps are taking control of the work.

People don't walk out and hail taxis anymore, maybe in the city centre at peak times. People are using apps which is technically private hire. Drivers that think the apps will go away and do nothing will end up like the Dodo, Extinct! 

MyTaxi is throwing cake to drivers at the moment but mark my words in years to come they will make us pay for breadcrumbs. The 'only' way is to work together and compete, the nature of the taxi business makes this a difficult proposition as we are self employed competitors that for the most part live in the moment. If we were only playing against each other on an even playing field that would be OK but we are  not.

MyTaxi et al have drivers hooked in like geese being force fed grain and they will come for the foie gras.