While the battle between Uber and traditional taxi drivers rages on in the UK, a couple in Perth, Australia, have come up with an innovative way to remain competitive in a changing market.
Mark and Daisy Davidson, who work in the chauffeur industry, first saw the impact that Uber was having on their market five years ago in San Francisco. With the ride-sharing app on the rise, the income of people like the Davidsons, who deal mainly with corporate travellers, dropped by a staggering 70 percent.
However, the Davidsons didn’t admit defeat, and instead began talking about how they could create something like Uber specifically for limousine chauffeurs and their clients. The result is Zeffer, and it’s set to take the industry by storm.
Although it’s inspired by Uber, however, the Davidsons’ app has some clever features that are all its own. Rather than offering on demand services, it allows users to pre-book their limousine ride with a Zeffer driver – meaning there’s no waiting around to get picked up on a busy night.
“With Uber you can either get lucky or you’ll be waiting for 20 minutes,” Mark told The West Australian. “We are saying you want a car, the car will be there when you want it.”
Ultimately, the Davidsons hope that their app will assist limousine drivers still trying to recover from the blows that Uber has dealt their trade. According to Mark, Zeffer has been developed with them in mind. And because it offers pre-booked jobs, they will be able to plan their working days around the app.
Furthermore, Zeffer offers excellent interactive opportunities, with drivers able to create their own networks within the app. And once users get to know who’s who, they can choose their favourite driver to collect them.
Whether Zeffer will transform Perth’s limousine hire industry remains to be seen, but with prices coming in at lower than Uber Black – their closest competitor – they’re certainly one to watch.
