Taxi Driver Online

Assumed this was the usual boilerplate stuff for one of Uber's Local Cab sign-ups, but this is actually a tad different, particularly the bit at the end.

I'm guessing Ideal Cars have gone off-script here


More taxi rides available on Uber app in Ashfield as new scheme launches

https://www.chad.co.uk/business/more-ta ... es-3908312

Passengers in Ashfield now have the option to book trips with a local taxi operator via a popular app.

Anyone opening the Uber app in the district can now select the ‘Local Cab’ option, alongside regular Uber-operated options such as UberX and UberXL.

Across Ashfield and Mansfield, Local Cab trips will be passed to local operator Ideal Cars to fulfill, and all subsequent support will be provided by them.

Dale Thompson, business development manager at Ideal Cars, said the move allows more people in the area to book their taxi rides via the Uber app.

He said: “It’s about getting the lowest ETA possible for the customer. Whichever car is closest is the one that will be dispatched. We’re still 100% Ideal Cars and not owned by any other company – we’re essentially just doing the work that Uber drivers can’t cover or is in the area that there is no Uber present.

“Places like Annesley and Kirkby don’t tend to have Uber cars available up there unless there’s been a recent drop-off.

“So us being on the Local Cab option opens up doors for people who use the Uber app. By linking up with local firms, Uber is covering more area for customers.”

The arrival of Local Cabs in the area follows previous launches in over 60 locations across the UK, including Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham.

Mr Thompson added: “It helps us and we’ve done a few extra bookings so far. It gives us access to customers who might not be from this area so don’t know about Ideal Cars but do have the Uber app.

“Then if they’re happy with our service, they might download our app or give us a call when they need a ride again.”

To that extent it's a bit of a Trojan horse for Uber - Local Cab is a way for the operators to steal Uber's customers

But I still suspect the other Trojan horse is the more likely, and the one that local operators should fear - that existing customers start to book via Uber rather than directly, so it's a customer lost rather than gained

I think this is evidence that Uber are successfully building a national presence in the UK

how many have Veezu got ?

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

Apparently Uber now has 85,000 drivers in the UK, but presumably a few of those will be working for other providers.

But that's probably more than 10 times Veezu's numbers

Veezu's cars actually quite concentrated in terms of England and Wales, never mind the UK as whole. Have tried to summarise this from Veezu's website:

https://www.veezu.co.uk/about/#veezu

V Cars are around part of the M4 corridor, from Swindon to Bath and Bristol - 1,200 cars

Dragon are across south Wales, from Bridgend to Cardiff across to Newport, and including Barry - 1,200 cars

A2B Radio Cars are centred around Birmingham and Solihull - 700 cars

Go Carz seems to overlap a bit with the A2B territory, but are mainly further west, including Dudley, Oldbury, Walsall, Wednesbury, Willenhall and Wolverhampton and further west to the likes of Telford, Shrewsbury and Oswestry - 1,600 cars

Amber Cars is mainly centred in Leeds, but they've expanded towards Bradford - 1,300 cars

The latest acquisitions are:

Panther Cars in Cambridge - 600 cars

ABC Taxis in Norwich - 300 cars

Of course, all the numbers will be approximate, but that's around 7,000 in total

Have a look at the map half way down this page on Ola's website, and they are also relatively concentrated in part of England:

https://ola.co.uk/

Don't know how many cars they have, but the areas they cover are broadly similar to Veezu's

Except Ola also covers Merseyside and London, but has no presence in Leeds.

Bolt covers most of the big cities, and one or two slightly oddball towns like Peterborough and Milton Keynes.

But they're in Cambridge and not Oxford. And Edinburgh but not Glasgow. Some quite big cities like Plymouth not covered though, and no mention of anything in big West Yorkshire towns and cities like Leeds, Bradford, Wakefield etc.

Bath and Bristol

Birmingham

Cambridge

Cardiff and Newport

Derby

Edinburgh

Greater Manchester

Leicester

London

Milton Keynes

Newcastle-Upon-Tyne

Nottingham

Peterborough

Portsmouth

Sheffield

Southampton

Wolverhampton

But Bolt certainly more spread out throughout the UK than Veezu or Ola, although Uber obviously the most widespread. I'd guess Uber has at least twice the number of cars than Veezu, Ola and Bolt put together

Would put some kind of map together, but can't be bothered, and have already spent enough time on this

Peterborough isn't oddball it's just a bit rough

and it is a university town (sort of)

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

Edders, I just meant that Peterborough is on the small side compared to most on Bolt's list, particularly compared to many towns and cities that aren't on the list. And if I had to compile a list of a dozen towns and cities where I'd expect the likes of Bolt to be operating, then Peterborough wouldn't be an obvious choice.

Don't know much about it, to be honest, and who knows why Bolt chose there and not other towns and cities a fair bit bigger, such as Brighton and Hove. But that's far enough down the rabbit hole for me