A new e-hailing taxi app called Taxify will launch on the 1st of February 2015 in South Africa and is certain to face stiff competitions with other taxi apps like Uber and Snappcab. The app acts as a link between taxi users and drivers at the push of the button.
Taxify is an international service that launched in Europe in 2013 and currently operates in the US, Spain, Netherlands, Poland, Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
Taxify forms partnership with businesses in each country to run the service, with the local ICT company Revnetek SA being the South African partner makes it distinct from other personal transport apps like Uber.
Taxify allows you choose from available options of the type of vehicle, fare, user feedback and the distance to the pick-up point. A request for a taxi is sent to the closest taxi to you with an indication on your phone of approaching driver. It also give details of the individual taxis and drivers, to help wean out any poor quality or unsafe services that might otherwise cause concern to potential customers.
Taxify has a four different apps – a taxi and driver app for taxi ordering, and a fleet management, and a web based dispatch software with no setup costs or special hardware for taxi companies to manage their businesses efficiently.
Trevor Joseph, CEO of Revnetek SA, in a statement said, “Taxify is not a taxi company, we connect taxi users with taxis. We only do business with legally registered taxi companies and drivers who have valid PDP licenses, taxi permits and paying passenger insurance.”
Taxi operators are allowed to run their own business and charge their own rates that are visible to clients requesting taxis before they order. Taxify invoices the taxi operator for the order fee per trip at the end of the month for all orders received by them via the app.
“As a paraplegic, I am a regular metered taxi user. Since I am in the technology business, I recognised the potential for a taxi ordering and management app. I approached my business associate in Europe who introduced me to Taxify. Taxify had all the features I required in the solution so Revnetek SA concluded an exclusive Agency agreement for South Africa,” Joseph explains.
The app is available for download on Google Play and iTunes. Taxify will be officially launched in Johannesburg and Cape Town.
According to Joseph, over 250 vehicles have been registered on the service and hopes to exceed 500 vehicles more by 31st of March. Taxify have received enquiries from some sub-Saharan African countries and plans to launch in other cities, South Africa being their first entry.
Image (Taxify)
