Bristol taxi drivers release new app to rival Uber’s market dominanceTech-savvy taxi drivers from Bristol have teamed up to release an app to rival the growth of Uber.
The Bristol Taxi App – which is abbreviated to Braxi – is based on its US competitor but will only employ drivers licensed by Bristol City Council.
It claims it will offer customers low fares as well as a friendly and reliable service, while drivers will benefit from not having to pay as much commission.
One of the brains behind the app, Farouq Hussain, described it as being "just like Uber, only local".
He explained: "We wanted something to keep it local and to protect Bristol's taxi drivers.
"We looked at different ways of doing it and we did a lot of market research. The people we spoke to said they liked the convenience of Uber and that they knew how much they were going to be charged.
"But what customers said they didn't like was the surcharge they sometime have to pay on top, while drivers said they didn't like the 25 per cent pay cut.
"Our app takes the best of Uber and makes it local."
Farouq and his team decided to create the app after Uber was launched in Bristol in June 2015.
The 34-year-old former cabbie, who has no experience of apps or the technology industry, said Uber drivers had "flooded in" to the city without any knowledge of its areas or road layout.
He said his ambition to improve the standard of taxi services in Bristol, coupled with the city's love of all things local, will make the app a success.
"I was a taxi driver for 13 years," he said, "but the reason I came out of it was because there was no recognition for hard work.
"There was just me, the driver, the dispatcher and the owner of the company I worked for. It was about making money, not providing a friendly or reliable service.
"I love Bristol and I love how proud this city is of its local companies. We truly believe that if we get the right support, this app could really take off."
Farouq currently has 20 drivers interested in working for the app, who have all been licensed as either private-hire or Hackney carriage drivers by the council.
He said he wanted to add to this total before launching the app, which is already available to publicly download via the App Store.
Farouq added: "There isn't an official launch date just yet, because we want to recruit some more drivers first.
"It's tough because we need the customers to attract the drivers but we need a certain amount of drivers before we can roll the app out to customers.
"We're confident of launching it sometime in the next six to eight weeks."
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http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/bristol-ta ... fAYw88s.99
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