Taking on the Uber challenge

CAIRNS-BASED taxi operators Ray and John McRoberts are not sitting back and letting Uber decimate their livelihood.

The father and son are fighting back and have established their own ride share app business.

1300 Ride Share has been set up at Port Douglas and will even compete against their own taxis in the resort town.

Unlike Uber, they own the new cars, which are fully insured with public liability cover, security cameras and are registered as passenger transport vehicles.

They operate the same as taxis with their drivers signing a bailment agreement to hire the vehicles with a percentage of fares collected paid back to the McRoberts.

The family pays for the fuel, servicing, tyres and other costs.

Despite the similarities their business offers cheaper fares than the taxis.

Fares are just $5 for the first five kilometres and rise incrementally, the exact figures are still being crunched.

A fare from Port Douglas to the Cairns Airport is $166. Taxis charge $188.

The McRoberts admit the new business will cannibalise their taxi trade but say they had no choice as Uber has started at Port Douglas and they also compete against shuttle buses plying for passengers in the small town.

The McRoberts say they will not apply surge fares which Uber charges when demand is high.

They remain secretive about extending their operations to other parts of the Far North but admit they will be “expanding the fleet”.

They did their research and soon realised, if you can’t beat them, join them, with a twist. Nick Dalton nick.dalton@news.com.au