In Nigeria, online taxi hailing services are gradually getting popular especially with the official launch of Uber, Easy Taxi, Tranzit.ng and several others. Even with the emergence of these platforms, there are still several issues that are peculiar to Nigerian customers that these companies don’t put into consideration, one of such is the fact that very few people would go online to book a taxi when they can simply call Danjuma. This is where YourTaxiNow comes in. Its founder, a former taxi driver in Abuja, told Innovation Village about its platform, its uniqueness and prospects for 2015 and expansion plans for Lagos and Port Harcourt.
What led to the creation of the platform?
I have been in taxi business for a few years, from the street taxis to the unpainted street taxis then later to the corporate taxis called ‘car hire’ in Abuja. I was driving taxi as a graduate but I always ask myself ‘what better way can I be a taxi driver?’ I don’t want to be the normal taxi driver or car owner that just has drivers working for him. I began to think out of the box and research on my field because I could not figure out how to scale up without major financial investments in vehicles.
When I was driving myself, I usually give out about 5-7 jobs to my friends and drivers each day, from this I figured out I could build on this growth to give jobs to many more drivers and still make money from it. That was how I decided to create an online platform called Yourtaxinow.com. I started to build the platform and create the system I have today since January 2014 but was able to launch it on 20 October 2014.
How does it work?
YOURTAXINOW.COM is an online and calls center taxi booking platform. It provides customers with fast, convenient, reliable, affordable and safe taxi/cab booking experience by using the YOURTAXINOW mobile app/web portal and call centre service to book your choice taxi in seconds.
We provide stress-free and excellent booking experience to our customers through different booking mediums, not just the above mentioned but also through BBM and WhatsApp services. YOURTAXINOW.COM handles all booking stress, from locating the closest driver to the customer through our driver app till pickup and drop-off. We do not just give you a driver and let you slug it out with the driver but we monitor the driver till drop off.
The exciting part is that on the web portal, our clients can also rate our drivers and book a preferred driver directly. This is a new innovation in taxi services and we happen to be the first company in the world to bring this innovation, with this we are able to solve the problem of drivers not being reliable and trustworthy.
Why did you start from Abuja and not Lagos or elsewhere?
I know Abuja almost street by street because as a taxi driver and I understood the unique needs of this very market. Taxi services are the major means of transportation of the residence. We are already in Port Harcourt Airport and we are concluding our market survey to launch in Lagos. Every market has its uniqueness we have to create a working model for each market space.
How does your service compare to those EasyTaxi and Uber?
I will first of all commend Easy Taxi for being the first international investor bold enough to enter the market space. The entrance of Uber further established that Nigerian market is ripe enough for mobile taxi hailing.
The above mentioned firms’ business models are imported models. Before I launched fully I understudied the competition and built on their weakness. I built a model that will best serve our local market.
We don’t just connect customers to taxis closest to them. We take them through the process. From connecting them to the taxi, to helping the driver navigate to the pickup point, the driver would not have to call the customer for direction and miss his way till drop off because the customer care also serves as a support system with a strong back end control system for both the driver and the customer.
Mobile internet services are most times not reliable and come to think of it most Nigerians prefer to just make a call than go online so we integrated 24/7 customer care line for bookings.
If you click booktaxi on our portal and click city (Abuja) it shows drivers profile. This was integrated because most Abuja residence prefer to just call up their own taxi driver. With this feature the customer can just book directly on a preferred driver’s page and even rate him after work. Since we introduced this to our drivers it has gone a long way to discipline them on time management and their relationship with the customers.
The portal was designed from the outset to meet the customers’ needs.
What is the average cost of using your platform?
It is free of charge, just go on www.yourtaxinow.com and book your preferred taxi and minutes your taxi is waiting at your door step. The Customers app will be available shortly.
How large is your fleet of cars and how many drivers do you have now?
We have our own in-house vehicles. The total number of our vehicles and registered drivers is about 260 vehicles.
How many users do you target to have before the end of the year?
We launched formally on 20th October 2014. Our target this year is to be the number one taxi hailing services in Abuja and to expand fully to Port Harcourt and Lagos.
Let’s look at the tech sphere in Abuja, how would you describe the fate of startups that may decide to launch their?
Abuja market is a unique market. It is very different from Lagos. We do things here totally differently. As a startup you must take your time to understudy and understand what the market wants. If you understand the market and willing to work hard success will come.
Abuja is the next big thing. This is the best time to be positioned properly as a start-up.
How confident are you about the ability of the platform to succeed?
I am very confident. If I can use a borrowed taxi to build what I have built today then I have no doubts whatsoever that the platform will succeed. We are committed to consistently providing our customer a taxi just a click away. The growth has been tremendous within this few months.
What categories of individuals can afford to use your service?
We started with corporate and luxury vehicles last year but by January 2015 we introduced street taxis to meet more customers’ needs.
If I’m going from the Abuja airport to the central district areas how much would that cost me?
I will give you different Average rates. SUV/Luxury vehicles: NGN6,000 – 10,000, Cooperate/ Executive vehicles: NGN5,000- 6,000 and Regular Vehicle NGN2,500-3,500.
How long does it take to get your service?
Once a booking is made on our portal or through our call center, with our driver locator App and GPS services our taxis arrives within 15 minutes if it’s not a rush hour.
