A start-up company founded by four Spanish engineers has brought out an app that takes advantage of the low demand for a taxi during certain hours to offer cheaper prices to its users.
Supply and demand is usually the motivation behind how much you pay for certain services.
Obviously, renting out a beachfront apartment does not cost the same in August as it does in November. Neither will you pay the same for a flight at 6.30 a.m. as one at midday.
But prices for taking a taxi are much more rigid and only differ if travelling during the day or at night and on a bank holiday.
And that’s where Micocar has spotted a way in which taxi drivers can ferry a greater number of passengers, and earn more money, and passengers can save money if they travel by taxi.
The four young guys behind the Micocar app hope to eventually compete with the likes of Uber and Mytaxi, but at the moment are still relatively unknown. The company was launched last year, but it hasn’t been until this year that investors have begun to take note and offer their financial backing.
The way in which Micocar works is that if you take a taxi during the quietest hours of the day, you can save between 10% and 50% of the usual fare. On entering the app, the user is notified as to how much discount is being offered at that moment, and what the next offer will be.
The first journey, the user pays the full price, but will accumulate a discount in the form of a percentage, which he is then able to use from the second journey.
Before setting up the company, a study was carried out and it was found that a greater number of people would use a taxi if the fare was cheaper and the majority of taxi drivers would love to have more passengers during quieter hours.
With Micocar both taxi drivers and passengers benefit.
The app currently has 4,000 registered users, but at the moment only operates in Madrid. The next step is to extend to Barcelona and even abroad.
For further information about Micocar, please visit:
Source: www.elconfidencial.com
Categories:
Related news
