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GetTaxi offers £5 flat rate fares in taxi price wars in Birmingham


Taxi booking app GetTaxi rivals Uber claims to be best value for money with flat rate fares offer


Taxi price wars in Birmingham have seen one firm promising £5 flat rate fares.

Booking app GetTaxi, which works with black cabs, is offering the fare for any journey within a five mile radius of New Street train station.

It could mean a discount of 50-70 per cent compared to normal fares, according to the company’s boss Remo Gerber.

The offer is set to rival taxi app Uber’s claim to be Brum’s best value for money booking app.

Uber refused to comment on their competitor’s pricing but claimed that their business had been booming.

The Birmingham Mail were quoted fares between £8 to £11 for journeys under five miles and between £10 and £14 for a journey of 5.2 miles.

Uber and GetTaxi both allow customers to book a lift at the touch of a button on their smartphones rather than hailing a taxi in the street or phoning a mini-cab company.

The two smartphone apps were set to be rivals from the start, launching in Birmingham on the same day a month ago (February 12).

When American company Uber launched in London it sparked anger from traditional cabbies who claimed that the way the app calculated fares was tantamount to a taxi meter – which only black cabs are allowed to use.

But the app has faced no such outrage in Birmingham.

General Manger for Uber in Birmingham Fouzan Ali said: “In the 90 days before we launched in Birmingham 20,000 people had opened the app in the city looking for a low cost reliable ride.

“Since launch we have been overwhelmed by the reaction and now have thousands of riders in the city.

“The service has scaled so fast in Birmingham that from requesting a car to it arriving now takes an average of less than 3.5 minutes.”

The Birmingham Mail tested the two apps out on launch day – with Uber providing a ride within nine minutes, and GetTaxi cabs being more difficult to turn up.

Mr Gerber, GetTaxi’s CEO, said the company now had over 100 drivers signed up.

“Drivers are joining every day,” he said.

“By introducing these amazing flat and fixed prices, we’re giving consumers a reason to choose Black Taxis over minicabs, not to mention all of our drivers are fully licensed and CRB checked.”


source: http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/mi ... te-8828514

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

But it won't work in Edinburgh!

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Grandad,

£1 a mile.

Is this really what the trade should be running at in 2015?

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IDFIMH

Did you not know,discounting is the way forward ?Ask my colleague from blackpool,he's never been as busy ! Were going feckin backwards !

Let the feckwit drivers sign up and bankrupt themselves...better to do half the work at twice the price at a quarter of the costs and have 50% more time to yourself for the same or more profit.

if this is what the apps are bringing we don't have a future

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

I bet they'll charge £5. The first opportunity they'll have the customers pants down.