PHV as a supplement to the existing taxi business
Together with cooperating taxi entrepreneurs, FREE NOW will also launch its own fleet of Private Hire Vehicles (PHV).
The aim is to further expand its strong market position, develop additional customer groups and offer customers an attractive mobility alternative with high quality, transparency and at a fair price.
With the new offer, not only passengers but above all drivers will be taken into the next evolutionary stage of urban mobility.
Alexander Mönch, General Manager at mytaxi:
"Our drivers are the most important partners and the taxi remains an important part of our DNA. However, we have to expand our offering in the fast-moving and complex mobility industry and remain competitive. We want to open up new customer and target groups for all services. With FREE NOW, the cake will become much bigger, so that everyone will benefit from it in the end".
Taxi and Rental Industry: Fair Competition and Equal Rules
The entry into the PHV business is an important, strategic step for mytaxi: "As a company with European roots, we do not want to leave the market to competitors from other continents. We continue to plead for the merging of taxis and rental cars in a reformed joint business with the same rules and fair competitive conditions," adds Mönch.
According to Mönch, there is also great demand: "Various entrepreneurs with whom we work have already approached us and are asking for alternative ways of repositioning themselves. Many of them have both car and taxi licences and want to cooperate with us in both areas".
Furthermore, the classic taxi industry remains an important partner: "It will remain a very important issue for us to continue modernizing the taxi industry in order to keep it competitive in the future.
Source : Statement from Daimler Financial Services:
Taxi Leaks Extra Bit:
To be honest, it was always on the cards, after Gett"s PHV Porsche's were allowed by TfL to operate from within their Taxi app with no reaction from their drivers....MyTaxi's parent company Daimler, have already launched 2 private hire companies, one (ViaVan) currently trialling on demand diesel Vito minibuses in South West London, that will be allowed by TfL to use all bus lanes....Not only this, Daimler owned Kapten is about to flood the market with extremely cheap, subsidised private hire in a bid to take over from Uber....and yet, not a murmur from the Taxi trade.
Trade publications will keep on taking the 30 pieces of silver for adverts in their papers and drivers will carry on using the apps that have bought about the destruction of our street work.
I'm still amazed the customers will leave Hakassan and Novikov....stand in the rain and wait to be picked up by Gett/MyTaxi, while there are lines of Taxis showing orange lights, just outside the door.
But it's no surprise, as again the trade will be buying the noose that will eventually hang us all.