‘Massive surge’ in users signing up for taxi app
AFTER launching a new taxi platform in Guernsey at the end of August, the company has seen a ‘massive surge’ in user sign-ups and ride requests.
Jersey-based company Goto launched the Uber-style taxi app in its home island in December 2018.
The app works with existing regulated taxi drivers, meaning the public could use a modernised service with no extra outlay costs to taxi drivers.
‘Our first month projected milestone for Guernsey users was hit before we’d even gone live, and, two weeks in, we managed to triple that number,’ said founder Ben Lewis.
‘At our peak, we were seeing a new user sign up every 30 seconds and had around 600 new users within the first three days.’
Mr Lewis said that comments on social media had reinforced the company’s belief that there were members of the public in Guernsey who have been waiting for a modern, cross-platform, island-wide marketplace app for the taxi industry.
However, there have been a number of minor issues along the way.
‘Due to the sheer amount of users signing up, this led to a number of service issues on our system which, in turn, meant we had to perform some maintenance over a number of days to apply bug fixes.
‘But due to the fantastic hard work by our team, we’ve managed to iron out these issues and get back up and running with only a handful of users being affected.’
The most popular times passengers need a ride is late in the evening, between 9pm and 11pm, followed by morning services at around 8am.
Goto is still searching for new drivers.
