Taxi Driver Online

New car-booking service to rival Uber launched in Milton Keynes today

https://www.miltonkeynes.co.uk/business ... ay-3183216


Image: Milton Keynes Citizen

A new vehicle booking app is available in Milton Keynes to rival Uber.

Bolt, a European ride-hailing service, is now live in Milton Keynes, starting today (March 30). The company claims it only trails Uber for popularity in London.

The service claims to offer an affordable mode of transport, whilst also having a long-term plan to help build a greener transport network.

Sam Raciti, general manager - UK at Bolt, said: “We know people in Milton Keynes are desperate to enjoy their city again, to see loved ones and to support the economy. As lockdown lifts, we’re so excited to bring Bolt to Milton Keynes.

With a history in tech and innovation dating back to Turing’s code breaking and innovators such as Red Bull and Santander investing in its future, Milton Keynes is a natural home for Bolt’s safe, easy and affordable approach to transport.”

A spokesperson for Bolt added: "Bolt is the fastest growing mobility platform in the world, with over 50 million users globally. With restrictions lifting on non-essential retail and outdoor hospitality in the next fortnight, Bolt will offer an alternative, carbon neutral way of getting around Milton Keynes."

In total, Bolt, is currently operational in 40 countries across Europe and Africa. As part of its UK expansion the app will be available in Peterborough as well as Milton Keynes.

London, Milton Keynes and Peterborough?

It'll be Stamford next

But presumably this is Bolt's first foray outside London, and therefore just testing the waters before wider expansion?

And Bolt is the one that does PHVs and HCs?? But apart from that, any real difference from Uber and Ola?

they claim to guarantee the LOWEST fares and charge 15% commission

I am not sure how many drivers they will attract as Peterborough is already VERY price competitive but at the moment drivers earnings are well down so maybe a few might try it

and they will probably try and cover Stamford as many of the Peterborough PH firms already do including PH cars trying to rank up like Hackneys on a Saturday night although not at the moment as the pubs are shut


before the lockdowns came along I think Uber were looking at Peterborough as their next launch city but didn't press ahead so perhaps Bolt are trying to steal a march on them

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Certainly an interesting mix of UK cities, particularly when seen in context of Europe as a whole

...but I'm assuming the reason they're going there initially is because the likes of Brighton and Oxford (which I'd guess would be better markets for this kind of thing) already have Uber?

Anyway, they're advertising the following fares on their website:

Milton Keynes: Base £2.50 Minimum £3.70

Peterborough: Base £1.40 Minimum £3.80

This base fare thing seems totally daft if there's a minimum fare anyway. Presumably little more than a marketing gimmick.

And, I mean, Peterborough is made to a look a lot cheaper than MK using the base fare, but the minimum fare chargeable in Peterborough is actually higher than MK?

This lot must fall foul of the workers rights decision, they are setting the fare.

I'm assuming Bolt allow drivers to multi app, and if that's the case what have they got to lose?

If the job offer isn't financially viable then press the X button.

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IDFIMH

What’s the Base fare ? Is the min fare is £3.70?

The base fare is where the time/distance calculations start.

The minimum fare is the minimum a customer will pay no matter what the time/distance calculator calculates.

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IDFIMH

so how will that be worked out on a average 2 mile fare?
as currently we charge around £6/7 for a 2 mile and private is around £4.80 for 2 mile and £1.1 per mile after,
I dont think BOLT/UBER can be any less than that?
£1.1 Per mile in 2021 is peanuts

the £3.70 will be for first mile I would think

But the whole rationale of these apps is to undercut the market so whatever the current normal fares are Bolt will be cheaper to attract customers at the expense of the drivers

their assumption will be that drivers are stupid and will accept lower fares on the promise of higher volumes

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They can only be the cheapest if they have drivers who will work for nothing. Just how many stupid drivers are there?

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well plenty according to your good self especially those willing to do airport work dirt cheap

I suspect their main recruitment drive will be drivers new to the trade who think taxis are cheap to run and a license to print money

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I'm guessing the base fare is basically like the flagfall.

Then it goes up by distance and time, just like a taxi meter (but I'm guessing that starts immediately rather than there being a flagfall distance, as many councils specify for HC fares).

But then there's the minimum fare anyway, so I can't really see the point of the base fare

Our meter flag in Fife is £3.20, which covers the first 1,000 yards or so.

So it's like our meters kicked off at £1.80, then started cranking up immediately, so a short run might clock at £2.50.

But that would be irrelevant because the flag on the tariff card is £3.20, so £3.20 would be the actual fare

Anyway, not enough info provided by Bolt to work out the fares in Peterborough and MK, but I'm guessing they wouldn't be that different to what Rashid says is the PH fares where he is.

Bolt just gives the base and minimum fares for the two towns, but on the London page it also gives a distance and time charge:

London:
Base fare: £2.50
Minimum fare: £5.00
£1.28 mile
+ £0.12 min

I'm guessing the latter means 12p per minute, thus £7.20 per hour

And if it's £1.28 for the running mile in London, suspect that for Peterborough and MK it wouldn't be far from the £1.10/mile for PH mentioned by Rashid.