Taxi Driver Online

10 western harbour medway, then canceled?

He who laughs last... and there's always UBER

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All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.
George Orwell, "Animal Farm"

Sorry but cancelled is only part of the story.
I tried previously and I was told there were no cars available. On the third attempt I did get a car but the estimated time of arrival was unacceptable as I knew I would be able to get a taxi quicker from another company.
I will try again in a few weeks when you probably have more cars on your circuit. Good luck with your new venture Chrismas

I would think there are still a few laughs yet to come from all sides Gary.
The Public Hire trade in Edinburgh knows that if it is to succeed in the modern day markets it must be up to face these challenges. Including Uber.

Its not a venture, just a simple app .
Tbh you've nothing to loose running it.

Les writes:


You cannot be serious Les? You are talking about going up against a multi-billion dollar technology company backed by Google. Oh and yes, the first few years might be a slow burn even for Uber but it's only a matter of time before all sorts of drivers sign on to their network, starting with the independents from the taxi trade and those in the Ph trade who want to rid themselves of their circuit fees.

The future is ... uberX - uberXL - UberEXEC - UberLUX - UberTAXI. And I doubt very much there will be any City Cabs or CRT in five years time.

The simple fact is, the traditional taxi/Ph company is being replaced with technology. City Cabs and CRT in a few short years will go the same way as the public phone box, VHS video recorders and buying CD's to have a CD collection.

You don't need a taxi company you need an app to connect you to the driver and the money for the fare goes straight into his pocket (account) and everything else is about recording information.

The times they are changing....

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All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.
George Orwell, "Animal Farm"

I've been on Gettaxi for about 3 years now.

There's about 4000 of us on it in London, and I can see from my tablet, they've been recruiting in Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham too.

Believe it or not (you get access to pre booked orders on their tablets) I've seen a few jobs booked by account holders in Edinburgh over the last year, obviously Acc holders from London do travel and want to use the same app wherever they travel to.

The system has its faults, but overall its bagged me numerous trips to and from Heathrow, and has some good accounts that have found us to be far more efficient in both service and costs compared to the sat nav mob and their non English speaking drivers.
It suits me as well as I only pay a pound or two for each job depending on the final fare costs, and its free at the weekend.

Punters are the biggest failure, wrong geo locations, cancelling after you've accepted a ride, putting wrong destinations in so your 'cream' ride turns out to be a rtfc after driving for 15 mins to reach the 'cream' job, but overall punters and drivers like it.
I understand there's established apps in Edinburgh, but I'm also understanding if you're not on a radio circuit its tough tittie, and you have no access to a circuits app as a street car? I believe it costs thousands to join a radio circuit?

Situations reversed down here as circuits cant get enough cabs ..... I could join Radio taxis for £6 a week and 10% a job, and they hold the London Underground account!

Get Taxis UK registered office is in Highgate Road, London, I have no idea if this meets the licensing requirements of Scotland?

Give it a try.

Out of interest, are they supplying drivers with the Get taxi tablet, or simply the app which goes on your own phone / Ipad?

Its just I can see orders in Brum and Edinburgh, I'm wondering if those drivers can see ours too?

And Skull could be spot on with some of his predictions.

10 years ago we had three big circuits, DAC, Com Cab and Radio taxis.

In order to join you had to wait for a vacancy and go for an interview, they ruled the accounts with about 8000 taxis between them. Now they advertise on a weekly basis for cabs, no interview and cheap subs, and accounts going over to the app companies as they charge no gratuities, run ins admin fee's etc.

The app is taking/has taken over down here, sadly ALL the circuits introduced their own apps long after hailo, get taxi and Addison lee launched theirs meaning they missed the boat somewhat.

Your last sentence sums it GBC, where circuits failed to act down there we never, the Cordic App has 900 willing cabbies, the App works perfectly alongside a circuit.

Get Taxi recieve and dispatch jobs, in Scotland they need as proven a booking office licence, it's as simple as that.

Punters are switchers, they are mostly interested in reliability then quality of service, again the Cordic App delivers both as circuits in Edinburgh promote both, if a punter is not happy with one company they simply switch to the other, it's too late for get taxi to break into the Edinburgh market but if they wish to try I recommend they play by the rules and get a booking office licence.

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Alway's been about Tightening the Grip!

Dougie, sometimes you are a complete mystery to me, in fact, most of the time.

Once a company like Uber or Get Taxi starts throwing around free taxi rides, you are going to lose a lot of your work. And when this happens City Cabs is going to struggle to remain economically viable with all of its overheads. Think about it Dougie? For as long as I can remember City Cabs and CRT's answer to finding work is to buy it, up goes the radio dues and more cabs are brought onto the circuit. This way of running a traditional/cooperative taxi company is coming to an end because it is highly inefficient and financially unsustainable.

City Cabs and CRT would be better off cashing up by offering Uber or Get Taxi a deal for signing up all of their members in one stroke, selling their offices and paying the owners out a dividend for their years of loyal service.

Oh and you can bet Dod, Les and Murray are already thinking of ways they can make this happen with of course, a large financial kickback for themselves in the process. Why don't we call it their severance pay for screwing the ar*e out of the company for many years?

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All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.
George Orwell, "Animal Farm"

Hypathetical Gary as always

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Alway's been about Tightening the Grip!

Can you please enlighten us on who will be providing these free taxi rides when the app companies take over please skull

Out of 1400 taxis 1000 are tied up with their cab companies and aren't allowed to use a rival or competitions app

So already the majority of taxis in Edinburgh can't and wont be installing uber or get taxis software

Out of the 400 street cars, how many are going to take it up, 100? Probably the street cars that work at the airport and have chip n pin machines. Not many others want the paperwork of app work and the eventual credit/debit card payments

Will that stop them?

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Grandad,

It's not hypothetical if you know the basic business structure of both companies and how they operate. Think of it this way Dougie, if Uber or Get Taxi suffer no real political interference, then at some point in the near future both City Cabs and CRT will be forced to close down or to restructure just stay in business. These cooperatives are pretty inflexible when it comes to change. They are not private companies with a few guys at the top that resort to trimming the company fat when faced with a loss of work and a reduction in profits. The tipping point for City or CRT will come when they losing work but need to increase radio dues just to stay in business

And like I said before, this bowling club business model is totally unsustainable when competing against, high tech, highly efficient well financed companies such as Uber.

It's a no brainer....

And as I said before, City Cabs and CRT in a few short years will go the same way as the public phone box, VHS video recorders and buying CD's to have a CD collection.

They are not even in the same league as these app companies.

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All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.
George Orwell, "Animal Farm"