Ride sharing is back on the Border as Go Buggy prepares to launch across the twin-cities, but a Border taxi company is unsure what, if any, effect the company will have.
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Go Buggy founding director Simon Robinson said the service would launch within weeks as soon as five drivers registered and undergone police and other checks.
“We’ve already got about three or four inquiries and we’ve only been advertising for a week,” he said.
“Ideally we want about 10 to 15 drivers.”
It’s the company’s first foray into Victoria, having services up and running across NSW including Sydney, Wagga and Coffs Harbour.
Mr Robinson said drivers were vetted by the company and underwent thorough police checks, claiming Go Buggy had stricter checks than the taxi industry.
He said the launch was exciting for Albury and Wodonga residents who had requested the service’s expansion.
Mr Robinson said the service would be charging a $1.99 per kilometre day-and-night flat rate with no fees for multiple drop-offs.
“Our service was requested by the community, hence we’re headed there,” he said.
“In regional areas primarily Friday and Saturday nights are the peak times where major complaints come through about waiting times traditionally.
“Those peak times tends to be when Go Buggy starts out but within a week we see day time bookings coming in.”
Amalgamated Taxis Wodonga chief Scott Cowie said it was hard to know what impact Go Buggy would have on the Albury-Wodonga taxi industry.
“We at Wodonga Taxis have no problem with competition coming into the market,” he said.
“We will continue to provide the great service we provide.”
Mr Cowie said like the app-based Go Buggy service, Wodonga taxis also could be ordered by their own app, if consumers preferred.
“It’s hard to say what the impact will be at the moment because we don’t know how many cars they’ll have or their prices,” he said
“The last guy who tried the same thing, My Country Taxi, doesn’t seem to be around anymore and didn’t seem to last long, so I’m not sure whether this will impact us.”
My Country Taxi’s online website currently states “due to technical problems our service is unavailable until further notice”.