Who are more likely to use or be aware of ride-hailing minicab and taxi apps?

Taxi booking apps have remained popular with customers wishing to travel during the pandemic.

With cabs ordered direct to doorsteps, payment on accounts, there are many reasons a customer may favour a booking app, and the process of ordering a cab this way is here to stay.

But who is more likely to use and be aware of a booking app?

According to a Department for Transport (DfT) Public Attitudes Tracker report published last year which focuses on app-based minicab services, awareness and use vary significantly by age and gender. Men are more likely than women to be aware of this service (85% versus 77% respectively) and to have used the service (31% versus 26%).

Levels of awareness are fairly steady across the age groups but drop off significantly for those aged 75+. As you would expect, usage is more common among more tech savvy people aged 45 and under, with at least 38% of the age bracket having used a minicab app. Only 27% of those surveyed aged between 45 -54 had used a minicab and it falls further to just 10% for those aged 65+.

While there were no significant differences in levels of awareness by English region, usage of app-based minicab services is significantly higher in London.

In terms of the number of apps used, most app-based minicab users (68%) made use of one app only.

Those using more than one app were more likely to be men (24% versus women 16%) and belong to social grades ABC1 which is a term used to describe the middle and upper- class society.