Taxi and PHV tech firm iCabbi surpasses ONE BILLION RIDES on its dispatch platform
Irish private hire and taxi technology startup iCabbi surpasses one billion rides on its dispatch platform.
iCabbi disrupted the traditional taxi industry with the first fully-cloud-based software and SaaS solution in the UK over a decade ago. It has helped transform companies across the UK by allowing them to automate, optimise and grow their fleets, and holds a sizeable chunk of the market.
iCabbi has expanded into the largest dispatch technology provider in the world, powering approximately 100,000 taxis every day. The reliability of the system is unrivaled, boasting 99.999% uptime, which has enabled iCabbi to hit volumes unseen by its competitors.
While taxi bookings took a major downturn during Covid, recovery is now well and truly back on track. On average, bookings for individual firms are at 90% of pre-Covid levels. The collective evidence of this is iCabbi crossing a billion bookings.
Gavan Walsh, CEO & Founder, said: “The momentum is back. Fleets are leaving Covid behind and looking to expand by pursuing new markets and moving away from traditional taxi companies.
“We’re lucky to work with a customer base that is very entrepreneurial and resilient. Our success is intrinsically linked with the success of our customers, so the billion bookings milestone is very much a shared win. It’s a combination of the hard work of our customers servicing their cities and towns day after day with quality taxi and private hire services, and the efforts of the iCabbi team who are driving product and business innovation to allow taxi companies to automate, optimise and grow their businesses.”
With booking demand resumed, the problem for fleets swings in the other direction, to supply. Driver shortages are causing difficulties for taxi operators globally. Driver recruitment and retention have become a competitive business. iCabbi supports its customers by giving world-class tools that allow local firms to compete with global players.
A new iCabbi Driver App was launched earlier this year on Android and iOS. This will soon see the addition of an attractive Driver Wallet feature, which enables drivers to see and manage earnings, including daily payouts. This gives fleets a significant lure compared to global competitors’ weekly payout policies.
Another innovation at iCabbi relates to its disruption of the traditional customer-supplier relationship. Earlier this year iCabbi launched the Taxi Alliance, an unprecedented joint venture between the technology provider and its customers - independent taxi and private hire fleets in the UK & Ireland. It comprises over 500 companies, representing upwards of 39,000 cars as members. This makes it the largest taxi alliance in the world.
The aim of the Taxi Alliance is to help fleets unite as a national movement to defend and grow their businesses. The concept of the Taxi Alliance emerged in response to insecurity in the market over the commitment and intentions of dispatch providers.
“iCabbi has essentially ripped up its contracts with customers in the UK and Ireland to create a whole new way of doing business, offering the industry the kind of security and true partnership that no dispatch provider can come close to,” said Taxi Alliance CEO, Bob Nixon. “It’s a joint venture based on collaboration and strength, which is what the industry needs now. It’s a new dawn.”
