THE NATION
An indigenous company has developed a ride-hailing application called Gab Taxi aimed at crashing the price of taxi services in Nigeria.
The app will begin operations today and hopes to compete with ride-hailing apps.
E.F. Network Limited, owners of Gab taxi-hailing services, is using over 30 local software engineers.
Chairman/CEO, EFGroup, Mr. Gideon Egbuchulam, made this known in Abuja at a briefing to launch the service.
Egbuchulam said he was moved to develop the outfit after hearing of how drivers were being maltreated by foreign ride-hailing firms.
According to him, “I was touched when I saw Nigerian taxi drivers lamenting how some of the foreign e-hailing companies were treating them as if they are insignificant or that they were doing Nigerians favours.
“These foreign operators were so ridiculous they even stopped Nigerians from using their apps if they complained.
“I saw drivers in Abuja protesting, and in a few other cities. To add salt to injury, we were told that these foreign companies were collecting more than the Nigerian drivers and giving them close to nothing, and not even making sure that the drivers and their cars were safe.
“I decided to do something about it, by reducing Nigerian drivers’ sufferings and losses.’’
As a first step, Gab taxi will will collect 15 per cent of the fare as against the prevailing rate of 20 to 30 per cent being charged by foreign apps.
Egbuchulam said: “Imagine a situation where we have fuel scarcity and some of the drivers stay on queues sometimes overnight to buy fuel for their cars, repair their cars, and in some cases may have less than three passengers in a day. So, when you deduct the costs of fuel and repairs, most drivers hardly go home with 30 per cent in a day.
“We decided to give the drivers the same things they are receiving and more, at barely half of the commissions being charged by the competition.’’
“Not only do we reduce commissions, we offer them many other incentives. In fact, we applaud the Federal Government for granting the e-hailing drivers the Union licence so that they can negotiate their future”.
Egbuchulam noted that “one of the key selling points of Gab is its affordability. Gab has developed a business model that allows them to offer their services at a lower cost than some of the more established ride-hailing companies.
“This is achieved by reducing overhead costs for the customer and offering a higher percentage split to drivers”.
To attract drivers to its app, the Gab boss said, “the app only makes available to the drivers customers in their geographical area to prevent long pick up hours for drivers thereby causing them to lose; opportunity to be enrolled on our drivers’ group life, permanent and temporary disability insurance policy.
Gab drivers will be given customized taxi handset and will be assisted to renew their car documents earlier to avoid being disconnected from the platform.
