In the past, a taxi used to be a comfortable choice, but recently has become a frustrating affair. Not only do you have to look out for drivers trying to scam you, but even if you finally find taxi, it doesn’t mean the driver will stop, and if he does, he could inexplicably refuse to take you.
For these reasons, the mobile application Easy Taxi was launched in Egypt. Easy Taxi is a Brazilian company founded in Egypt in 2011. The free application allows you to pick up a taxi by writing your own address and with a widespread network of taxis, the closest one will reach you.
“There are pros and cons. The pros are that you have the number of the taxi and the driving license plate, which is safer especially for females,” said Shaimaa, 25, who works in social media at a private newspaper.
She added that one positive thing is the caring customer service who usually asks for her feedback regarding the service and the driver.
Raffat pointed that the cons of the application is that the taxis don’t cover many regions; they only cover the crowded places like Nasr City and Maadi, which is a big trouble.
“Seventy percent of the drivers are very good in everything, but actually the rest are greedy because some of them scam by manipulating the taximeters,” she said,
While talking to one of the taxi drivers who preferred to be anonymous said that the application helps the drivers in contacting with many customers. The company does not receive commission from each drive, but simply facilitates communication with people and provides more drivers.
“The taxis are ours and we are not employees in the company, which is nothing more than a middleman to communicate drivers with customers,” he said.
The driver said that the drivers deal with Easy Taxi spend money on purchasing smart phones and subscribing to a LE50 package of internet mobile data to be available all the time for all the requests.
In an interview with Egypt Independent, Nada Ali the head of marketing of Easy Taxi Egypt said that the app aims to connect passengers and drivers in the safest, fastest and easiest way, while creating an comfortable user experience. She agreed to answer multiple questions about the app.
What is the main purpose of the application?
In Egypt, we are focusing on the safety of both the passengers and drivers. Once the passenger requests a taxi and the ride is accepted by a driver, the passenger receives the drivers info (name, personal photo, car plate and car model). The passenger gets to rate his or her ride after the experience has finished.
Does the company have partners?
We have three main global partners (investors): MTN, AIG and Milicom.
How does the taxi driver benefit from Easy Taxi?
Easy Taxi does not employ drivers and we don’t pay the taxi drivers any salaries. But has a special team to convince the normal white taxi drivers to download easy taxi app (drivers’ version) and join us.
Easy Taxi guarantees more rides, thus more income which enhance the standard of living. Moreover, Easy Taxi organizes the driving paths, as the drivers know the rides in advance.
Easy Taxi guarantees a good caliber of passengers to ensure the drivers' safety as well. Helping them to become more tech savvy by providing them training being part of a taxi driver community, which Easy Taxi was the first to create.
What are the criteria of choosing drivers?
The taxi driver has to have a smart phone with GPS. The taxi has to be in a good condition. The taxi has to have a working taxi meter. The driver has to be of good caliber. He must also provide documents, including a copy of any criminal record, copy of a national ID, as well as a copy of the driving and car licenses.
Does the company offer the drivers smart phones or money for internet mobile data packages?
The company does not offer the drivers smart phones or money for internet mobile data packages.
How does the company make profits then?
We follow the same business model of What’s App.
What’s the average count of easy taxi users?
We cannot disclose this kind of information but globally Easy Taxi has 400,000 taxi drivers worldwide. I can tell you on a daily basis we acquire around a 100 drivers here in Egypt.
Are there any new plans or projects in 2015?
In the beginning of 2015, Easy Taxi had a partnership with KitKat (Nestle) doing a Santa New Year’s campaign, dressing up our Taxi drivers as Santa Claus and having them distribute to any passenger that rides with them (Easy Taxi or non-Easy Taxi passengers) a KitKat bar.
Moreover, we are soon having a partnership with Bey2ollak App to help Egyptians move smoothly in the most time efficient way around the city.
Easy Taxi is launching soon the Easy Taxi Pay (ET Pay) where our customers can pay using their credit card.
Easy Taxi has just launched Easy Taxi Limousine – a brand new service that a passenger can request from the same app with the availability of a fixed price guide available as well on the app.
Talking with some clients, they did complain about some drivers who scam their passengers by manipulating the meters, how can you control this?
True, this happens, but it is never impossible to control it! We are realistic and we have very strict rules to always maintain the highest service level of our taxis.
We have a great relationship with our passengers, so as soon as any of this happens, they contact us and feedback us immediately, we then immediately take action, by first calling the driver understanding the reason behind it and educate him well that the usage of the taxi meter is mandatory. Then if the incident is repeated, we directly close his account.
Do you have any further projects with the government in 2015?
For the time being we do not, but we have an ongoing partnership with the Petroleum Ministry, NGVS [gas stations] and Gas Tech.
