Taxi Driver Online

But the point of the apps is drivers will be able to do both, so why would it be slower.

And even if it was, do customers really care if one booking takes 5 mins to arrive, and one 7 minutes?

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IDFIMH

The point is they'd need half of Sefton badged drivers to sign up before they'd have a chance of covering anywhere near the area Delta do. Are those drivers going to be conviced that this new app can make them more money than a firm which does 10m bookings a year? I'm not sure. Don't get me wrong, I think Uber have done very well to get to where they are. But it's going to be difficult for them in this area where one firm dominates, to get a foot on the ladder. I wonder why they've not done it already.

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Sometimes the most telling information comes from what's not said...

You are clearly in awe of Delta and it's 10m bookings shared between 2000+ drivers over a period of 365 days, but, most of us on here have already done the maths and it ain't all that really. With regard to an App making more money for a driver that will of course take time but times are changing and so are customer habits. There's also the prospect of saving £90+ per week when the Apps go into full swing and are used regularly by customers. Lets think about customers shopping habits from about a decade ago, people scorned the online experience, they said it'll never take off. Stores such as Boots, Tesco, Asda etc have what they call 'flag ship' stores, those are the stores that sell the most on a consistent basis, those 'flag ship' stores are now their online stores. Private hire operators and service providers always felt quite safe from this type of threat because the customers had no option but to ring or flag a cab but now there is a choice for the customer and the companies and drivers need to realise this and not get left behind. Some companies already have an App which gives their customers another way to book a taxi/ph with them but the savvy customer will want a wider choice and the App that gives them that choice is on it's way. Slowly, slowly catch a monkey

There is also the fact that the App doesn't need to be successful in Sefton it only needs to be successful in Liverpool and that will cut 50% jobs taken by Delta.

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Note to self: Just because it pops into my head does NOT mean it should come out of my mouth!!

The thing that bothers me about these apps is what happens when they have the "lions share" of the work ? Do they start raising their fees,because they have a monopoly.The same way firms of ph/hackney do.Did Hailo not set out in London as hackney only,then thought will have a bit of the oh aswell.The likes of Google and others are only in it for one thing and it ain't the workers.

of course they'll start raising their fees - just like minicab operators do already

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

Maybe, maybe not but it's up to the drivers to ensure they are fairly treated.

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Note to self: Just because it pops into my head does NOT mean it should come out of my mouth!!

Thats the way it goes nowadays,people call it progress.The rich get richer,the rest get fecked !

I'm actually not, and I can do maths but those numbers do not tell the whole story. However much anyone likes or dislikes them it has no bearing on the fact that they have been very successful at what they do, and they intend to keep it that way. They know what they're doing.That's exactly what will happen. The same as Delta know they can charge drivers £100 a week because no one else in the area is anywhere near as busy.

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Sometimes the most telling information comes from what's not said...

I have to agree with Toots here. If a decent app based booking system is introduced in the area it will have an effect on the likes of Delta. This is simply because they are the ones, as you say, are the busiest. They will see their market share fall, by how much is anyones guess, but it will fall, the size of the cake will stay the same. Now, how much Delta allow their share to fall is the question? A modest fall of say 5% will be over 500,000 jobs based on your figures, now that is a sizable number of jobs for a start.

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Grandad,

Delta as a business model is exceptional, their ethics may be questionable, but their business does what it says on the tin. I have no doubt they know what they are doing but do they know what others are doing? As I said the business doesn't need to be taken from the Sefton area it just needs the Liverpool trade to get their act together and a sizeable number of jobs will disappear

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Note to self: Just because it pops into my head does NOT mean it should come out of my mouth!!

Okay, let's say these apps take 500,000 jobs from Delta. The amount of drivers working the area isn't going to massively increase (unless perhaps they get rid of the knowledge test....) so those approx 100 drivers have to come from somewhere. If they came from Delta (and why wouldn't they if things are so bad as some might believe) then the amount of jobs each driver gets would remain the same. They've lost 5% of market share but also 5% of drivers, so Delta are worse off but the drivers aren't. Once a few people get wind that this new app might be able to make money, how fast do you think they'll get 100 drivers signing up to it? Then we have the same situation where (supposedly) there's not enough work to go round. I just struggle to believe that an app whose owners are only interested in money, can do a better job than Delta who have been at it for years, spent millions on technology, marketing etc and have pretty much got it nailed.

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Sometimes the most telling information comes from what's not said...

I don't agree that the knowledge test should be got rid of, if anything it should be updated an refined. Some would argue that the motivation behind Delta and it's plans are money orientated too, I mean they don't do what they do for the love of the drivers do they An App is considerably cheaper to maintain than an office thus needs less revenue to begin with anyway and believe it or not they'll make a profit at £10 per week from the drivers, hard to believe I know but that's the way it is I think it's a win win for drivers once it gets established.

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Note to self: Just because it pops into my head does NOT mean it should come out of my mouth!!

2 weeks!

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Grandad,

Of course Delta want to make money, the same as any company. But they know their customers and what's important to them, and they also know that most people currently pick up their phone and dial a number when they want a taxi/PH, not use an app. So for the moment the apps won't take away that business. As for people who do use apps well it's impossible for them not to know about the Delta app, it's on billboards all around the city and about 20 million radio adverts a day. I just checked out Uber's service and the only thing they do that Delta don't is charge through a credit card. I'm not saying they won't be able to make a dent in the market, but it will be tough.So do you think that in 2 weeks they can reach enough potential clients with marketing etc to keep those 100 drivers in work? Only time will tell.

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Sometimes the most telling information comes from what's not said...

Did Delta start with 2000 cars, or did they grow the business over a number of years?

That's what will happen with the apps folks, of that I have no doubt.

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IDFIMH