CABBIE fever

A host of newcomers are shaking up London’s ride-hailing and taxi market with Uber in their sights. Rob Gill reports

Competition in London’s ride-hailing and taxi market is hotting up as Uber faces down a host of new entrants, while black cab apps continue to actively court the corporate market.

Uber had been operating in the UK capital on a 15-month probationary licence from transport for London (tfl) since June 2018, which was extended for another two months in september. tfl had originally refused to renew Uber’s five-year licence because of concerns over the reporting of serious criminal offences and background checks for drivers.

London calling

Whatever happens with its licence renewal, Uber is facing a raft of extra competition in London from other ride-hailing firms – estonian-based bolt launched in June, while Indian start-up Ola has also been granted a 15-month licence by tfl with the service due to start in september.

then there’s Kapten (formerly known as Chauffeur privé), backed by German car giants bmw and Daimler, plus car-sharing service Viavan, which secured a three-year licence to operate in London earlier this year.

meanwhile black cab apps such as Gett and Free NOW (formerly hailo and then mytaxi) are also upping their games in attracting corporate business, while industry veteran Addison Lee also remains a significant player in the market.

Despite the intense competition, Uber currently accounts for 80% of London’s ridehailing journeys and does not seem to fear the emergence of these additional rivals.

“they are competitors that we’re familiar with. We’ve been competing against those players in paris for many years,” says Uber’s CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi. “We are not seeing anything in London that’s a surprise or unexpected that we’re not seeing in 20 other cities around the world.”

One potential advantage of this increased competition is a reduction in journey prices in London. but matteo de renzi, Gett’s CEO of Western europe, is not so sure this will be the case as the ride-hailing companies compete to secure the services of the drivers.

“there are many new players in the consumer space,” says de renzi. “they will add competition but we’re quite neutral about that. All the new players will have to start with a large amount of drivers and so pay them generous incentives. this could have a detrimental effect on Uber and lead them to increase the prices even more.”

Companies like Gett continue to stress the unpredictability of Uber’s prices for corporate clients, particularly around “surge” rates. more corporate-focused players also emphasise their ability to offer clients what they need to meet duty of care requirements and supply management information (mi).

Andrew sproston, UK head of sales at Free NOW, adds: “Almost every week we see a new service provider launch. technology has made people much more engaged in their travel plans. While having lots of choice is obviously attractive, we find that for business travel safety, speed and comfort remain the most important factors.

“With taxis, as with any corporate travel, people want seamless transfers – a cab waiting for them with a driver they already know the name of, contact details, the route and shareable etas (estimated time of arrival). It reassures people that they are in safe hands, knowing their driver is fullylicensed and knows where they are going.”

Play it safe

Offering duty of care to passengers and their employers continues to be a major selling point for those operating in the corporate taxi market – particularly as this issue has been a serious hurdle for Uber to overcome in its fight to get its London licence renewed.

Clare mahood, senior marketing manager at ground transport specialist CMAC Group, says: “We understand how critical it is that organisations provide a duty of care to their employees. One of our biggest contributions to this is our vetted, compliant suppliers. to give peace of mind to employers we provide real-time tracking of journeys that is also accessible by the organisation.”

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having the ability to vet drivers is crucial, says John mccallion, CEO of Groundscope. “Corporate clients want safe, reliable and cost-effective ride-hailing services and these do not always go hand-in-hand. We are committed to providing fully vetted ridehailing service partners globally and we’re rolling this service out as soon as we can.”

mccallion adds: “many corporate clients are rightfully concernced about working with ride-hailing companies who do not vet their drivers and as a result are not making these services part of their company policy.”

Another challenge is delivering user-friendly apps for corporates. “the massive growth of the consumer market has created different expectations,” says Gett’s de renzi. “the challenge from corporates is to get closer to the experience you have on a consumer level.”

Electric avenue

One of the next frontiers is the ability to offer more environmentally friendly vehicles and rides, particularly with cities introducing evertighter regulations on emissions.

rob mcginn, Addison Lee’s Chief Commercial Officer, says the company wants to “set the agenda around the introduction of new vehicle technology” and has committed to having a zero-emissions capable UK fleet by 2022. It started that journey with a recent investment in over £40million-worth of low-emission vehicles. “We’ve just begun trialling five Audi e-trons – a fully electric SUV – with corporate customers so we can understand the requirements for an electric fleet and customer attitudes towards the cars,” adds mcginn.

Uber, meanwhile, has introduced a ‘clean air plan’ in London to aid the electrification of its fleet. but this obviously involves a cost to passengers with Uber introducing a 15p per mile charge earlier this year on each journey in London as it aims to raise £200million to help drivers switch to electric vehicles.

the ride-hailing/taxi market is certainly one to watch over the next few months and it will be interesting to see how many of the new entrants are still standing in a year’s time.