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A new cab-hailing app to rival Uber in SA

On 1st February a new cab-hailing app called Taxify is set to launch in South Africa and perhaps take on the country’s current big players Uber and SnappCab.

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 partners with businesses in each country to run the service, with local ICT company Revnetek SA being the South African partner.

Taxify has a four different apps – a taxi and driver app for taxi ordering, and a fleet management and despatch app for taxi companies to manage their businesses efficiently.

What sets Taxify apart to other personal transport apps like Uber is that the taxis aren’t licensed to Revnetek SA – Taxify simply acts as a link between customers and taxi services.

“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,” said Trevor Joseph, CEO of Revnetek SA, to htxt.africa.

Taxify lets you choose between various options available according to 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 one that is not busy at that time. If the closest taxi is busy, the request automatically goes to the next closest vehicle.

By including details about the individual taxis and drivers, the app helps to wean out any poor quality or unsafe services that might otherwise cause concern to potential customers.

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.

Taxify will be officially launching in Johannesburg and Cape Town first although the app is already available for download on Google Play and iTunes. Over  250 vehicles have already been registered on the service and the Revnetek SA hopes to exceed 500 vehicles by 31st March.

Joseph says the company plans to launch in other cities soon and while South Africa is Taxify’s first entry into Africa, Revenetek SA has already received enquiries from some sub-Saharan African countries and is pursuing the leads.

[Image – Taxify]

 

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